Warrior's Angel: By the Light of the Moon
by Kiriona
Summary: Sequel up! While running to school, I got hit by a bus, and woke up in, well, you know the drill. I've played Sands of Time before, and I know it pretty well. But now with me in the picture, things are about to get much more hectic in Azad. R&R pweasy!
1. Mr Cranky Pants

Warrior's Angel

_Written by Kiriona_

Chapter 1

"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO MEEEEE!!!!" I shrieked as I ran around my bedroom in a panic attack. Once again, my crappy old alarm clock that's older than my grandmother refused to work and once again, I was freaking LATE for school! "Why, why, WHY!!"

I stumbled out of my disaster area bedroom and down stairs all the while still trying to pull my shoes on, shove things into my bag and tie my hair back all at once. Yeah, it wasn't going so well. And of course, I tripped and fell head first into the kitchen, where my mom was waiting.

"Naomi, would it kill you to get up on time once in a while?" she asked me, hands on her hips and I picked myself up and resumed my panic attack.

"It's not my bloody fault that alarm is older than a whale!" I exclaimed, shoving everything into my bag.

"Do you want something to eat before you go?"

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" I exclaimed, "I'm late! I'll see you when I get home!" With that, I grabbed everything and bolted out the front door.

I completely ignored the screeching brakes and loud cursing of the drivers that I'd darted out in front of in my mad dash to get to school on time. I would've stopped and apologized, but the adrenaline was pumping and the only thing on my mind was what my first period teacher would say if I came in late to class AGAIN. I could see it now.

"Miss Fox, when will you learn that such irresponsibly is unacceptable in this class?" she would rag on, "With so many tardies, it's a wonder you're grade is what it is." I grimaced. I was so sick of being lectured by that old bag by now… I know that back when _she_ was a high school student, when dinosaurs roamed the planet and primitive humans rubbed up against trees the keep the flees off of them, when fire and the wheel were just being discovered, that people had no reason to be late. But in this day and age, us teens have to deal with stupid alarm clocks that like to turn themselves off in the dead of night _just to be annoying!!_

With an angry huff, I leapt from the sidewalk and started to run again. There was only a few things in this world that didn't annoy me so much, one of them being, of course _video games._ I could sit for hours on end on my bed, the controller in hand, staring at the TV screen. Mom always tells me that if I spent as much time studying as I do playing games, I would not only be a straight A student, I would be the top of my class. …Like that was ever going to happen, though. I prefer to sit on my lazy bum all night and play my precious Prince of Persia.

Too bad while I was thinking all of that, I didn't see that bus coming…

When I came out of Ga-ga Land and back to the real world, I felt like my head was several sizes too big and that whoever had stuffed this mattress needed to be shot. There were two men standing over me in weird clothes.

"Ugh… did either of you get that guy's license plate?" I groaned.

"…She's delusional," one of them said, "what now?"

"The king said take every maiden we find captive," the other replied. Captive? Were the terrorists attacking? Was the sky falling? Was I dead? Eh, who cares? Sleeeeeepyyyyyyy…

It wasn't until I woke up the second time and found myself chained to a pillar that I realized that something screwy was going on here. From the looks of things, I was on some kind of moving… thingy with three others girls stuck to it like I was, and we were moving across a desert with a whole mess of soldiers around us. It didn't take me very long to recognize exactly what was going on. I had been taken prisoner by a pack of bloody Persians, and--…PERSIANS?! What the crap?!

I looked around frantically for something, anything that would confirm my suspicions. And I'll be damn if I didn't find it. Or rather, _him_. The second I laid eyes on that oh-so familiar blue tunic and white hat thingy, and that sexy goatee, only one person came to mind, and it sure as hell wasn't Uncle Jack.

I freaked out a little. Ok, a lot. Enough to make the guard on the side of my poke me with his spear and yell at me.

"Ouch! Hey, fight fair, ya lomax!" I shouted. He shoved me again. "Ow! That hurts, you overgrown baboon!" Maybe it would've been smart to have just shut my mouth and been a good girl, but _noooo_ some part of my brain has to intervene and command me to do exactly the opposite of what I should do. He smacked me in the face with the wooden end of the spear and after that, I decided to shut up. Of course, that didn't stop me from making faces at him when his back was turned.

No telling how bloody long I was up there, bored out of my mind with nothing to do except make fun of the meanie guard on the side of me. But of course, after a while, I got bored of that, and was left with nothing to do except wallow in boredom. I eventually got around to singing the Song that Never Ends, but that didn't sit very well with Mr. Cranky Pants, so I had to think of something else to do. I tried doing a little jig, even though I had chains constricting my movements, but Sir Grouchy Butt didn't like that either.

Finally, I started thinking on this whole crazy situation. The last thing I remembered was dashing to school, running across an intersection, hearing a loud horn, seeing a bus at the last second and then BAM. Then I woke up wherever, and now I was here… in Prince of Persia Land, or whatever you want to call it. …I did see the Prince, right? I wasn't just going nuts from the desert heat? I actually saw him when I looked? Right? _Right?_

I looked again, leaning over and craning my neck to see behind the thingy I was strapped to… but no sign of Princy. No sign of any royalty for that matter. Maybe they all just ran ahead? Ugh… Sighing, I stood back up and sank down as far as my chains would allow. I had been standing all day… and I was tired by now.

"You!" Oh, great, "Stand up!"

"I have a name, Grumpy Grouch-a-lot!" I shot back, "and I don't wanna stand up! I'm tired!" That may have not been the smartest thing to do, but I really was tired!

"Save your crying for someone who cares!" he retorted, poking at me again.

"Ow! Stop that already! It _hurts_! Don't you understand the word 'Ow'? It means I'm in _pain_ and that you should probably _stop_!" He opened his big ol' mouth and was about to retort and smack me again, but someone up there finally decided to lend me a hand and a certain someone came to my rescue.

"Is there a problem over here?" The King of Persia interrupted, staring down at the solder from his horse. Whoa. The King. In the flesh. Should I ask for an autograph? I quickly put on a pout.

"I'm tired! But Crabby Bob over here won't let me sit!" I whined, folding my arms and putting on my best weak little girl face.

"Your Majesty, I'm only doing my job! This _girl _has been tormenting me since we left India, and it is really wearing my patience thin! I, too, am tired, and I don't believe I deserve an attitude from a captive!" Oh, that liar! I'll show him!

"Wait, you kidnap me and then expect me to just stand here and cooperate?!" I cried. "I mean, there I was, just minding my own business out in the middle of I don't even know where, and then boom! Here comes the wanna-be fuzz in their sardine cans, and the next thing I know I'm stuck chained to this stupid, stupid wall thingy!" I turned to the side and 'humphed.' "Besides, you started it!"

"You were the one who began screaming for no reason, you little wretch!"

"No reason?! Of course I had a reason! What kinda idiot just screams for no reason? Oh, wait, that's right, you do."

"What?!"

"Yeah, you just hit me and yelled at me just to show off, didn't you?!"

"It's my job! I don't think I deserve attitude for it!"

"Well maybe if you'd keep your stick to your self and stop hitting me with it, and stop yelling at me every five seconds, I'd leave you be! What are you, so bloody battle starved that you need to smack around a helpless little girl who is stuck to a wall? How stupid!"

"Why you little—"

"Enough!" the King finally interrupted, sounding slightly amused at our quarrel, but just as exasperated, "both of you, stop acting like children. You," he looked at the soldier, "leave the girl to herself. She does have good reason to act in the manner she has been. You, girl," he looked at me, "hold your tongue and conduct yourself as a proper woman. We are almost at our destination."

"Yes, sir," we both moaned, like little kids answering to a parent. But when he turned and road off, I couldn't hold back my grin, and I stuck out my tongue at the soldier.

"Watch it, you, or you'll be without that tongue when we reach Azad." I glared and 'humphed' and folded my arms stubbornly.

The rest of the journey was…interesting, to say the least. I kept coming up with new and improved ways to annoy ol' Groucho Tinbutt down there, and I could tell that he was ready to carve me into little sticky pieces. Too bad he couldn't! Ha! I win!

"On the road again!" I sang out for what could've easily been the thousandth time. The watched and stifled a giggle as Metal Booty ground his teeth tightly, trying to keep himself from killing me. So far, the other girls with me seemed to approve of my defiance, although, they were probably also getting annoyed with my horrid vocal talents. "I just can't wait to get on the road again!" Of course, whenever Princy or some higher up dude road past, I shut my mouth and pretended to look innocent, but as soon as they were gone… "Sing along, everyone!"

I quickly shut up when Cranky McCrankster suddenly shoved the tip of his spear in my face threateningly.

"I swear, if you do not SHUT UP…"

"RAPE!" I shrieked, "RAPE!" He quickly shrunk back when people started staring. Boy, if looks could kill…

If I hadn't been protected by King Sharaman's orders that no maidens were to be harmed under any circumstances, I know he would've killed me on the spot. Scratch that. I would be dead fifty times over. Well, the way I figure it, if I have to stand here and be a prisoner of war, then damn it, I was gonna have as much fun with these guys as possible! "Now," I continued, brushing my now messy sandy blonde hair behind my ear, "you wouldn't wanna hurt little ol' me, now would you?" He just growled. "After all, I'm just a helpless little girl taken prisoner by a pack of warring thugs, and you're a big ol' mean soldier with a big stick!" I tilted my head back, stretching my neck out and sighed. Sure, I was having a ball, but when the hell was Azad planning on showing up? I just wanted to get there already…

* * *

Kiri: Welcome one and all to the new and improved (drumbroll) WARRIOR'S ANGEL! Yes, I have, after careful consideration, decided to go back and fix up all my previous chapters of this growing series! This is just the beginning of my editing, but I hope that this will be a nice blast from the past for all of us!

Naomi: WFT?! I'm 16 again!

Prince: You? Look at me! I'm back in my prime! Hmm... so, uh, Naomi... how about it?

Naomi: ... IN YOUR DREAMS!

Prince: Oh come on, it's not like-

Naomi: NO!

Kiri: Ok, Prince, top with the pervertedness. Anyways, I'm off for a good three weeks, so hopefull I'll be able to get some freaking work donw for a change! Woot! Let's all hold hands and pray for my procrastination syndrome to go away! So until the next edit, (singing) So long! Farewell! Untill we meet again...!


	2. Broken Wings

Chapter 2

"SWEET GROUND!" I squealed when we _finally _got to Azad and all the girls were being let off. Bucket Head unlocked my chains, rather grudgingly, but before he could help me down, I leapt off and hugged the dirty ground. "I love you! I'll never ever take you for granted again!" Well, I'd just been on that stupid wooden thingy for who-know-how long, and I was happy as crocodile with a new toothbrush to get off. But before I could finish thanking the ground for its existence, Cranky McRuin-all-the-fun wrenched me away and practically dragged me along with him.

When I had my footing again, I twisted myself free and shouted, "I have legs, you know! And I was taught how to walk when I was one! So hands off!" He released me, but kept a death grip on my shoulder, like he expected me a turn and bolt at any second. I decided to finally give him a break and went along quietly. The guy put up with me the whole way here, after all I guess he kinda deserves it. Kinda.

The palace looked big enough in the game, but in person, well, HOLY CRAP. When we were inside the palace, I couldn't help but gape like a fish at the whole place in total awe. The sultan of this place really knew how to _live_! Talk about luxury! Maybe being given off to slavery wouldn't be so bad… as long as I landed a job in this place, I'd be happy as a kid at Christmas! Okay, maybe not that happy, I'd still be a bloody servant girl, but at least I'd be living in a palace.

I caught a glimpse of the Royal family as we made our way to the throne room. When I saw, well, _him_, again, I practically started hyperventilating. My guard dog squeezed my shoulder threateningly and I was suddenly once again acutely aware that I was not dreaming. I bit my lip, trying to piece together just how I got here in the first place, and how I was supposed to get home. There had to be someway to get out of here! Right?

Anyway, I remained silent as I watched the Sultan and King Sharaman greet each other and whatnot. Really, at this point, I wasn't complaining at all, because where I was standing, I had a _real nice_ view of the Prince's butt. I couldn't hold back my stupid, pathetic fan-girl grin when I realized that, and I hardly even paid attention to much else.

What finally snapped me out of it was the unveiling of the Sands. Ohhh, shiny! Even though this shiny stuff was chaos in an hourglass… and would soon take over the world… and the only protection against it was to have an artifact related to the Sands in your possession… and everyone else would be turned into big ugly zombie people with glowing stomachs… uh oh. Ooohhh…. Noooo….

"EEEEK! " I practically leapt into the Grouch of the Round Table's arms. "Not that! Anything but that! Mommy! I wanna go home!"

"Get off of me!" Kermit the Crank ordered. I wasn't listening though. Too busy trying to climb over his shoulder and out the door. Needless to say, I was kinda creating a scene.

"No! No no no no no no! Get me outta here! Get me outta here! I can't be in the same room with that deathtrap in a bottle!"

"Would you…! Get off!" Finally he grabbed me around the waist and slammed me back on the ground, which knocked me for a loop momentarily.

"…I know I dropped my gum here somewhere…" I slurred. It took me a few minutes to recover. Enough time for people to top staring and return to their own business.

"The Sand… why does it… glow?" the Sultan inquired, pressing his chubby face against the hourglass.

"I can answer that," the Vizier interrupted. I frowned. I knew what was coming. "Inside the hourglass, in a marvel that no living man has seen." Marvel my butt! That thing was anarchy in a bottle! "Alas, only the dagger can unlock the Sands of Time, and it belongs to a greater one that I. A young Prince, dearer to his father than all the wealth of India." At this point, I was BADLY tempted to start screaming about what a lying, viper in the grass, one-foot-in-the-grave, greedy, no good, slimy, backstabbing old geezer he was! But then I looked around and saw all the guards… I decided against it. Yeah, big fat mistake. "Perhaps he would apply it?"

I watched in scorn as the Prince scoffed, put one hand on the Dagger and started towards the Hourglass. At this point, I realized my mistake. I heard Farah start shouting at him to stop. I soon joined her, forgetting all about Mr. Sardine Can Knight behind me.

"Stop you idiot!" I yelled, jolting forward as the Prince began 'applying' the dagger. The guards caught me before I got too far. "What the hell are you doing!" The Dagger was almost in… "STOP! NO!" Too late.

The ground started shaking. I knew exactly what was about to happen, and like hell I was about to stick around. As soon as the guards let go of me, I immediately darted back, dodging any and all grabs made for me and I ran. I ran my ass off as the Sands spilled from the hourglass and onto the floor and started wreaking havoc. I didn't ever look back when I heard shrieks of agony and the growls of newly formed Sand Monsters. Nope, I ran and ran and ran until my legs burned, and even then, I kept running.

Finally, things were silent, except for the rumbling of the palace. I stopped for a moment to rest and try to figure out where I was. I recalled old memories of the very beginning of the game, and explored the immediate area. I was in luck. I'd managed to follow the Prince's path almost exactly and I was in familiar territory. Finally, some good luck!

I walked through the halls, turning corners and slowly building a mental map of the place incase I got turned around and eventually ended up at the start of the huge area where the player first fights the Harem girls. I remembered that place. The very first time I played the game, I pulled my hair out for about ten minutes trying to find ways to beat them. Now, however, I knew how to beat them. The only problem was that I didn't have super mad princy acrobatic skills and I was unarmed. Oh, and my fighting skills about equaled that of a dead fish. All that, and I was terrified of heights. Just looking downward at all the Sand thingies that were now there made my face turn white.

At a loss of what to do I wandered around the halls, looking for something that might help me get down there, but I didn't find much except rubble, a pile of sand, a hole in the wall—hey, hold on… I don't remember there being a hole there… Curiously, I looked inside, seeing silk curtains hung from the ceiling, and a darkened corridor. Is it one of those fountains that increased your health? But there wasn't any of those here! What in the world? Well… no one else seemed to be around… maybe if I drank some of that water, then I'd be strong enough to do something more damaging than breathing on the enemy in a fight! Besides, this wasn't supposed to be here in the first place!

Shrugging, I climbed through the hole and hurried down the corridor incase someone decided to come around the corner at the last minute and see me go through the wall. I walked through that veil of darkness at the end and immediately felt a chill down my spine. Only, it wasn't one of those chills that tells you that something bad is waiting for you stumble onto it and that you better leave if you want to stay not dead. No, it was more like a 'wow, this place is so beautiful' chill that sort of makes you feel like you belong there.

"This place is even prettier than in the game…" I mused at I ran my fingertips along the side of the rope bridge. I looked around a little, at all the bridges off in the distance that seemed to illuminate them. I slowly walked across the bridges, letting my eyes and mind wander, completely forgetting about the Prince, the Sands, and everything else. For some reason, this place had a weird comforting feeling to it. I felt as though I were at home, sitting my big butt at my computer, staring at the screen like I always do.

I approached the fountain somewhat cautiously and looked down at the water. It seemed to shimmer by some supernatural means. I know it gave off a real good reflection. Almost every detail of my skinny sixteen-year-old features accounted for. Messy blonde hair, light brown eyes, ridiculously fair skin (all sun burnt, of course, from spending all that time out in the hot desert) and even that damn small bit of acne I had on my cheek.

Coming back to reality, I remembered what I'd come for. I cupped my hands in the water, wondering what the prince felt when he drank it. The water itself felt refreshingly cool, and it tasted ever better! It was almost like drinking fruit juice; only there wasn't really a fruity taste to it. I can't say it was like sugar water, either… it was like it was so clean and so fresh and pure that it had a new type of sugar in it that no one knew about yet.

After I gulped it down, I started getting this strange tingling feeling in my chest and it spread to my arms, then my legs and down to my toes. Then I started feeling a little light headed and dizzy… then I started hearing voices whispering in languages I didn't understand and the world started darkening. I felt a strange sensation of energy surge through me, and it seemed to focus mainly around my shoulder blades. But just before I conked out, I heard something I did understand: "We found you at last… Angel…"

I didn't know who this 'Angel' person was, or who 'we' was, but I do know that when I came to again, I felt like I could wrestle a grizzly bear! And lose! I opened my eyes, finding myself on the floor, and tried to roll over on my back, but found that I couldn't. Something was in the way. I reached back to grab it and movie it out of the way, expecting a rock of a board or something along the lines of broken up rubble, but instead grabbed a handful of… feathers? What the crap…? I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked over my shoulder. I saw a wall of white feathers sticking out of my back. Surprised, I yelped and leapt to my feet. I grabbed at them again and pulled. There was no way they could be attached to me! I felt pressure on my shoulders when I pulled on them. They _were_ attached to me!

"Holy crap, I've turned into a bird!" I exclaimed. But then another thought came to mind. With wings… I could fly! …Right? That meant I could get down to the bottom of that one room! …Right? Oy, better give these a test run, first.

I tried to move them, but they wouldn't budge. I focused manly on the muscles in my upper back, trying to will my new limbs to move… but no such luck. I grabbed them again and moved them. They seemed real… and they seemed to be properly jointed… I tried again, and again, but still nothing.

"Well, that's just great!" I yelled, now discouraged, "I finally think I'm getting a break, I wake up and I've got wings, but they don't flippin' work! What kind of stupid gift is _that_?! Somebody up there must be laughing their butt off at me right now! Well, it ain't funny!" I folded my arms and sank to the ground. "Why does this always happen to me?" I sighed.

"Uh… excuse me?" I nearly leapt out of my skin. I was suddenly on my feet, my face flustered, staring directly at the Prince of Persia.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people like that, you know!" I shouted, the sudden adrenalin rush getting the better of me. I sighed, and waited for my heart to calm down a little.

"Hey," he broke the silence and stepped closer to me, "aren't you that girl that was tormenting that soldier in the desert?" My shoulders slumped a little and my face paled somewhat. I was hoping he'd forgot about that…

"Well… er… yeah. Maybe… eh… uh…" Oh, get it together, girly! "Um… yes. Yes I am." I put my hands on my hips and pushed my chest out a little, then stuck my finger in his chest. "And just who might you be, exactly?"

"I am the Prince of Persia," he answered.

"Well, your highness, that was a really stupid thing you did back there, you know that? Opening that stupid… thingy! What a mess!"

Deciding I need a minute to get back into my happy, preppy mood, I brushed past him before he could argue with me.

"Hey! Wait!" He called. I stopped at the hall entrance.

"Yeeeeesssss?"

"Just wha- who are you?"

"Weeeellll… My name is Naomi Fox. Or just Naomi." My good mood slowly returned to me. "As for that first question, I really don't have that one figured out yet…" I coyly touched my wings again and took notice of the Prince's inquisitive stare. "…They don't work."

"I'm sorry?"

"The wings. I just got them right now. They don't work, or I just haven't figured out how to use them yet."

"Oh, I see."

"So… are you the only one that isn't a big ugly beastie?"

"No, there's a girl. Farah. And the Vizier. Other than that, I don't know." As if I didn't already know all that. Well, it was fun to pretend.

"Well… since I have the fighting ability of a teddy bear, and you have a sword… I guess I'm tagging along with you. You don't mind, right?" I didn't give him to chance to answer, "Of course not. Lead the way, Galahad!"

"Wait a moment, I—" I stepped behind him and gave him a quick push

"Off we go, the dynamic duo, off to save the world!"

"But I—"

"You can thank me later, Prince. Let's go!"

* * *

Kiri: woot! Another chapter in the bag! Not much had to be done with this one, and I think I got all the typos... Christmas is getting closer! Can't wait! I'm hoping for a ps3, personally. That way I can play the new Prince of Persia game! That game play looks realllly good from the trailers! I'm just kinda sad it;s not picking up from the Sand of Time trilogy... That was the only game series I ever got so freaking hooked on I speant hours analyzing every piece of it! but enough about that. I'll start work on the next chapter soon. Until next time (singing So long! Farewell! Until we meet again...!


	3. The Palace's Defenses

Kiri: Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I was at the movies all day, so I didn't have much time to work on the new chapter. But here it is now, so read and reveiw!

* * *

Chapter 3

"…Nu uh." I backed up and away from the ledge, "No way."

"You were the one who insisted we ally with each other!" the prince argued.

"I didn't think about this at the time, okay?! I completely forgot that I have a deathly fear of ridiculous heights!" we were trying to get back to the reception hall where Farah was waiting for us, but I'd completely forgotten all about that big huge room with the sand monsters waiting at the bottom. Yeah, real brilliant!

"It's only a small gap! You can easily jump across it!" the Prince insisted. "Look, it leads right out to a balcony!"

"What if I fall? Then what? I'll plummet to the bottom like a bat out of hell and smash into a pile of mush, bones and feathers at the bottom!" I exclaimed pointing downwards, "I don't know about you, buddy, but I'd much rather remain the way I am now!"

"Then what do you have wings for?"

"I told you, they don't work! I can't use them!" I let out an exasperated sigh, "Isn't there a way around this wreckage? Isn't there a hole in the wall or something? Because there is no way that I am about to leap to my death here!" the Prince leaned against the wall, his face in his hands, looking like he regretted letting me push him into an alliance with me.

"Alright, I'll show you!" I stood back as he got a good enough start and leapt the small distance between where I still was and the arch leading out to the balcony where we'd see those flying thingies with the hourglass. He, of course, landed safely on the other side. "You see? Easy!"

"Easy for you to say! You're a bloody monkey!" I cried, throwing my hands up.

"I am not a monkey!"

"It's a figure of speech, genius! You know how to climb and jump and do all that stuff! You've done it for years! I haven't! I couldn't climb my way out of a bag!" I stepped back. "So… how about I just… stay and… watch out for sand thingies while I wait for my wings to start working?" He leapt back over to where I was, and hoisted me up over his shoulder. "Hey! What—what are you doing?" I protested.

"If you must act like a baby, then I will treat you like one."

"Prince! No! No, no, no, no, no! Put me down!" but my cried fell on deaf ears as he once again leapt to the other side with me over his shoulder, then set me down.

"See? Was that so horrible?"

"Yes!" He rolled his eyes. "I don't like heights, alright?" He just turned and walked out to the balcony. I quickly followed.

It was there that the Prince spotted those to bird thingies carrying the hourglass up to the Tower of Dawn. He stared at them blankly for a second or two, not understanding the whole situation quite yet.

"The hourglass… What?" he murmured to himself.

"I think it's obvious at this point that someone is behind this whole thing, pulling strings," I observed.

"The Vizier," the Prince stated, "It must be the Vizier. He tricked me into opening the hourglass in the first place."

"I _tried_ to tell you…" I grumbled, folding my arms. He just sighed.

"Let's just get back to the reception hall. Farah is waiting for me there." I nodded once and we started toward the other side of the balcony, and would've got there if the damn thing hadn't crumbled and broke all to bits right there! Damn… should've seen that coming…

"You've gotta be kidding me!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms up. "What idiot designed this place anyway? He needs to have his head looked at!" It didn't help in the least when the Prince just wall ran to the other side effortlessly. I glared at him. "You are not making this any easier for me, you know!" It was so not fair. The Prince of Persia games are definitely not the best choices to get dropped into if you have the acrobatic abilities of a can of beans and especially if you have a set of wings that don't work. I've read plenty of stories where a character gets a pair of wings and can't use them, and all they end up doing is getting in the way and slowing everyone down.

I looked for a way to get over the huge gap without having to risk falling and smashing into paint on the ground below. That was when an idea came to mind. Not sure how I thought of it, and it was risky, but something told me it just might be worth a shot.

"Prince, stay there a moment! I think I have an idea!" I called, and then hurried back inside. I stood at the edge of what probably used to be a walkway and looked down at the next floor. Immediately, my common sense kicked in and started screaming at me to not be an idiot, and I almost listened. I took an unconscious step back, and was just about to talk myself out of it, when my body seemed to move on its own for a moment and… I leapt.

I jumped off headfirst and immediately regretted this ingenious little idea of mine. I was certain that I was going to fall and fall and hit the ground and turn into a pile of jelly. But I didn't. Just when I opened my mouth to start shrieking along with that little voice in my head that was yelling, 'You moron! What the hell were you thinking?!', it was like something took hold of me and carried me forward towards the ledge I'd been aiming for. I landed haphazardly on the edge in what could've easily been a crash landing.

"Owwww…." I groaned, picking myself up. But once on my feet, I smiled when I realized that I had just glided down here. Not very well, but I'd glided! "Prince!" I yelled loudly. A moment later I heard hasty footsteps.

"Naomi? Where are you?" he called back.

"Below you! I think! Listen, go ahead and head down on your own! I'll meet you at the bottom!"

Since I was going down one floor at a time, I got there a bit faster than Princy, although, I couldn't help but feel a pinch of envy toward him for being able to do those impossible stunts of his. I ended up waiting for him and the corner platform just above ground level, staring at all the Sand creatures patrolling the area. This was going to be a problem, since I was weaponless, and my fighting ability equaled zero.

"Why did you stop?" the Prince asked me when he caught up. I pointed at one of the beasts.

"See that? That's a bit of a problem for my, since I don't have a weapon! And even if I did, I have no idea how to use it! So, that means that you're up, Princy-boy! Go get 'em!" He looked at me oddly for a moment, then shook his head, leapt to the broken pillar and slid to the ground floor.

I watched the melee closely. I couldn't continue to go through the game not knowing how to fight. I'd end up dead! So I watched the Prince's moves, memorized as much of his technique as I could. It would no doubt come in handy later on. I joined him when he finished off the last sand creature.

"You make it look so easy," I commented, awed by his awesome Prince-like, super kick-ass combat style.

"I have been doing it for many years. It comes almost as a second nature to me," he replied. I frowned.

"I couldn't fight my way out of a cardboard box…" I shook my head.

"All that aside, we have another problem."

"What?"

"There's no way out of here." I only had to think on this a few seconds before grinning mysteriously.

"Oh yes there is!" I said teasingly. He took another look around, and then stared at me, stumped.

"Where? I don't see any means of getting out of here." I looked pointedly at the wardrobe behind him with the broken column in front of it. He looked at it, not quite understanding. Still smiling, I started toward it.

"Just come here and help me, will you?" Shrugging, he followed me and together, we pushed the wardrobe out of the way, revealing a hidden passage.

"…How did you know this was here?" he questioned suspiciously.

"I know lots of stuff," I replied oh-so-mysteriously. "But in all seriousness, we'd better keep moving. I doubt Farah will wait around for us all day. Especially with hordes of Sand beasties everywhere." Without waiting for a response, I trudged through the passage. I'd gotten a bit better at gliding, so I didn't have much of a problem getting past the broken steps we came to. We both went through the door after stepping on the switch. Completely forgetting about the danger in that room, I started to cross the bridge, when the Prince suddenly gripped my arm and yanked me back.

"Watch it!" he shouted just as a bunch of rubble fell from the ceiling, destroying the small bridge and blocking the path. And to thing that could've been me under there…

"Thanks…"

"Don't mention it."

While the prince wall ran across, I climbed on top of the rubble that nearly killed me and glided across. The Prince and I moved the box on the other side across onto the floor switch and the door opened, revealing the one part of the game I probably hated the most.

"Oh thank God! I was afraid you were one of them!" The guard on the balcony above us shouted as we stood on the center of the large rotating platform that activated the palace's defenses.

"Well, rest easy, pal, we're as human as can be!" I shouted back. This guy was so annoying…

"Can you help me activate the Azad defense System?" he called down, "it will take all of us to do it!" I was tempted to correct him and say it only took two men to do it, but I decided to just shut up and play along with it, even though doing this would activate loads of traps… it would be the only way to open all the doors and get around and whatnot. "I'll reset the axels for you!" With that, the platform started moving and the axels started resetting. As they did this, the guard explained the whole deal to us. We had to navigate the grooves and pick up all the axels and line them up with their gears.

"Well, pick a lever," I told the Prince. Shrugging, we both grabbed levers. I was on the one that moved it up and down and the prince was on the other one that turned it.

I always hated this puzzle, especially the first time I played the game. I sat there, screwing around with the damn thing, yanking my hair out by the root, trying to figure it out. Eventually I did, and after a few more run-throughs of the game, I had it memorized, but I still hated the damn bloody thing! With the prince and I working as a team, we managed to get the axle's in place, though it took a little longer than I would've liked, especially that annoying guard yelling at us every ten seconds. At one point, I leaned over to the prince and whispered, "Yeah, and I don't see him down here helping, the lazy bastard." He chuckled and we continued on until we had it beat.

"That's it! I knew you could do it!" the guard yelled gleefully as the axles placed themselves in their proper gears. "Now, there's one last step! Do you see that platform? Throw your lever and I'll throw mine!"

"What manner of machine is this?" The prince questioned, obviously a bit uneasy about activating it.

"I told you, it's the palace's defense system! Stop wasting time! Throw your lever!"

"You heard the man, Prince," I encouraged. The two of us climbed the ladder to the platform, where the prince pulled the lever.

"Ha! Serves those accursed demons right!" the guard shouted. At this point, I was starting to wonder if this guy even knew what volume control was. "By God, they'll rue the day they ever dared attack the Palace of Azad!" I sighed, knowing what was coming. No sooner had he finished, he started screaming in pain as he changed from a man into a Sand Monster.

I, of course, stayed on the platform as the prince easily dispatched the two Sands Creatures, then jumped down to join him and together, we ascended the stairs.


	4. Farah Joins the Team!

Kiri: Here's a second update for the day to make up for the lack of chapters yesterday. I think this is my favorite one by far... but that's just me. y'all v can make up you're own minds. And don't forget to reveiw!!

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Chapter 4

Don't ask me how the hell I managed to make it to the courtyard, because I have no freaking idea. I must either have a huge amount of luck on my side, or someone is watching over me. I'm thinking it's the first one, because Murphy's Law has always been in full effect when it came to my life.

"Not so hard once you get the hang of it, is it?" the Prince asked me as we successfully made it to the other side of a bunch of spiked pole and one of those revolving blades.

"Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed, "How many times have those things almost cut my wings off, eh? They may not work real well, but I like them there!" He just shook his head.

"Hey look," he pointed at the wall behind me.

"What?" I looked back. Sure enough, there was a hole in the wall there, leading to whatever it lead to. "Think it's worth checking out?"

"Yes." He walked toward it and climbed up onto the small bolder, taking notice of the spike traps beneath the hole. He wall ran to the small ledge and pulled himself up. "Here, climb onto that bolder and jump. I will grab you and pull you up." I started untrustingly at the spike traps.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked uneasily.

"Yes, now hurry."

"Ok, but if I fall onto that thing, it's on your head."

"Fair enough." I did as he instructed and climbed on to the bolder and jumped towards him as far as I could go. With some luck, he gripped my wrists and pulled me up. Me, being the clumsy ox that I am, tried to get my foot on the ledge, onto to slip forward, knock into the Prince and send both of us stumbling backwards and onto the ground below on top of one another. And, of course, by some cruel joke, I just had to land in an extremely embarrassing position between his legs.

My face turned beat red and I yelped and leapt as far away as I could, shouting, "I'm sorry!" the whole time. I couldn't even bring myself to look at him as he stood up.

"It's alright," he assured me, though I could here embarrassment, humor and exasperation in his voice.

The tunnel turned out to be another fountain. The two of us walked in an uncomfortable silence the whole way. I still couldn't bring myself to look at him. Why, _why_ did I have to be such a klutzy idiot in front of him, the Prince of Persia? Why did this crap always have to happen to me? Ugh… maybe some water will make me feel better…

"Really, Naomi… it's fine…" the Prince said quietly after we reached the fountain. I only grunted. I couldn't even look at his face without turning as red as a lobster…

We both just sighed and took drinks from the fountain. It was pretty much the same as before, that same tingling feeling spreading from my chest to the rest of my body, only this time, it didn't focus around my shoulder blades. It spread to my wings and seemed to… seemed to bring them to life. Weird metaphor, I know, but that's the only way I can describe it. I could've sworn I felt them move just before everything went black again.

Suddenly, the Prince and I were standing outside again, feeling rejuvenated.

"Wow…" the Prince said under his breath, "I feel stronger than ever!" I playfully rolled my eyes at him, and glanced back at my wingies.

"Uh… prince? Is it just me, or are my wings a bit… bigger?" I turned by back toward him and pointed my thumb at them. He looked at them a moment.

"Actually, yes. They do seem to have grown… was it the water in that fountain?"

"Well, unless you can come up with something else, then I would think it's safe to assume that that fountain has a lot to do with it." I suddenly heard something make a swooshing sound behind me. It was soft, but I heard it. Expecting an enemy, I whirled around, but there was nothing. "What the…" I heard it again behind me, and turned again. No one was there but the Prince, who was obviously trying to stifle a grin.

"Do you hear that?" I heard it again and turned full circle. "What is that bloody noise?!"

"It's your wings," the Prince answered calmly. I looked at him stupidly for a moment, not quite understanding, but then I heard it again and turned my head around, seeing that it was my wings after all! My cheeks turned red in slight embarrassment and I faced the Prince again. "Oh… I knew that."

"I'm sure you did." I opened my mouth to retort, when something stupidly obvious hit my like a kick in the ass. My wings were moving! Did that mean I could use them now?

Decided to give them another test run, I focused on my upper back muscled and tried to will my wings into motion. It worked! They gently flapped back and forth, not very much, but they were moving! I grinned.

"Does this mean you can fly, now?" the prince asked, watching me. I shrugged.

"I don't know… but I'm not about to break my neck testing them in flight. Let's go find Farah first." He seemed to agree and once again, we set off.

When we found the second hallway trap switch, before the Prince could pull it, I stopped him.

"Hold on, I'm not real good at dodging traps and whatnot, and because of my wings, I'm a bigger target… maybe I should run up ahead and wait by the door for you," I suggested. I stopped to consider this, although I could tell he wasn't too enthused about having to dodge buzz saws alone.

"Well, I suppose you have a point. Go on then, but hurry. Yell at me when you're at the door so I can make my way there," he agreed. I smiled, and was tempted to jump forward and hug him, but I didn't… didn't want to go too far… we only just met a little while ago! Anyhoo, I did just that, and ran ahead. I had some trouble, because getting to the door involved climbing, which I was horrible at, and somehow, don't ask how, I got up there. My gliding ability also helped tremendously when it came to crossing those huge gaps.

"Alright, go ahead," I yelled loudly, and a moment later, the entire hall came to life. Several more moments later, the Prince joined me and we quickly ducked under the closing door.

We were back in the reception hall and Farah was there waiting for us, except she was standing at the rear of the room, loading and firing arrows like mad at the horde of Sand Monsters! And guess who was among them? Yep, the Good King Sharaman, transformed.

"Farah!" the Prince called, his eyes widening in surprise. The Indian Princess glanced quickly at him, but then returned her attention to the Sand King and his minions. "Stay here!" he ordered me and leapt over the edge of the balcony in a daring rescue. I didn't argue. Weaponless and powerless, I'd be cut into little sticky pieces by those guys in seconds! Instead, I watched from my perch as the Prince landed in front of Farah and drew his sword. "Farah! Get back!" It was then that the mighty Sand King let out a fierce growl that all but got the Prince's attention. "Father!" Yeah… someone got beat with the ugly stick…

The fight began. The Prince used every acrobatic trick in the book to dispatch the Sand creatures, and Farah laid back and shot at them with her arrows. Several times one of the monsters would set it's sights on her and the Prince, being the sucker for the babes he is, came to her rescue. All the while, I was standing up here like a dumb ass, wishing there was something, anything I could do to help, wishing I wasn't such a loser.

It wasn't long before the Prince's main focus turned to the Sand King. Once again, he used everything he knew against the monster, but nothing worked. Every blow the Prince sent toward the King was blocked or parried. I thought about how this battle was in the game. It was so annoying… but I knew the secret. …_I knew the secret!_

"Prince!" I shouted over the edge, "Let him attack you!"

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" he hollered back. I sighed. Stubborn…

"Just do it! Dodge at the last minute! He'll be wide open for attack!" He threw a quick glance at me, eyes wide. "Trust me!" Only a second later, the King raised his big ass sword and swung it at the Prince. Deciding to take my advice, the Prince back flipped away at the last second and then quickly struck the king with his sword. "I told you!" I yelled.

"Oh stow it!" he yelled back at me. The battle raged on, Farah, for some reason, refused to fire on the Sand King, so it was up to the Prince to dispatch him. I was certain that the Prince had this battle in the bag… I was wrong. In the game, the battle was the same all the way through. That little tactic of mine worked until he was gone. But for some reason, it stopped working and the King started blocking not only the straight blows, but also the strikes the Prince sent his way when he was supposed to be open for attack. When I saw this, I was completely stumped. This was not in the game!

"Got any more bright ideas?!" The prince yelled at me at he dodged another swing. I shook my head.

"I don't know! I—" I'm not sure how the idea came to me, but it did. Without wasting another second, or even giving my common sense a chance to argue it, I planted my feet on the balcony railing and leapt as far as I could. My wings spread open and went into action, carrying me the necessary distance. Finally, just before I was there… "HEY STUPID!" The King only had a split second to look before my foot collided with his big ugly face and the momentum of my weight sent him reeling back and onto the floor. I landed roughly, stumbling back a bit before regaining my footing.

"How did you just do that…?" The Prince asked me.

"I have no idea!" I answered, my eyes wide, "but there's no time! Finish him!" Nodding quickly, dagger in hand, the Prince leapt the distance between him and the King and plunged the Dagger of Time into his back. Shrieking in defeat, the King turned to sand and was absorbed into the dagger. It was over. But there was no denying the pain I saw in the Prince's eyes when he did this. After all, even if it was a sand creature… it was still his father.

I just watched in silence as my companion tore his sleeve off where he had been wounded during the battle and quickly bandage it. There was a certain apathetic stare in his eyes that told me what had just happened hurt him emotionally, but being a man, he wasn't about to let it get the better of him, especially since Farah and I was the only ones around and we were girls. After all… he was a man, and supposed to be in charge.

Speaking of Farah, she quietly walked over to the Prince and placed her hand on his shoulder as a gesture of comfort and understanding.

"I'm sorry," she said firmly.

"Why? The Prince replied, his voice a little aggressive.

"I know what it is to lose a father," Farah explained. The Prince quickly stood up and looked the Princess straight in the eye.

"That was _not_ my father," he declared, then hurned on his heel and took off running toward the Sand vortex at the front of the room.

"What are you doing?!" Farah cried when she saw where he was going, "Stop!" But her cries fell on deaf ears and the Prince ran straight into the vortex. Commence visions.

"Eh, don't worry about him… he's a little hard headed, but he's not completely stupid," I told Farah after the prince was in his trance-like state in the vortex. She turned and looked at me.

"And you are?" she crossed her arms.

"Naomi Fox. I've been with princy over there for a little while now…"

"You seem familiar… have we met before?" she asked, looking me up and down. I shrugged.

"I think I saw you in the hall when the sands were opened…"

"…You're the one who was tormenting that soldier!" she exclaimed. I stared at her for a moment, and then wilted slighly.

"Is that all you people are going to remember me for?" I grumbled.

"But you didn't have wings then. Can you fly?"

"I really don't know. I can glide somewhat, but I haven't tried flying full out." I stopped and looked back when I heard something heavy hit the ground behind me. I had to restrain myself from busting up laughing when I saw the Prince lying on the ground in front of the vortex. It had just kicked him out! Not only that, but the dagger hand fallen out of his possession and was on the ground a few feet from him. I saw Farah stare at it. "that dagger… it can reverse this whole mess… right?" as if I didn't know.

"It can," Farah answered and started toward it. She was only a little ways from it, however, when the Prince came back from his senses and spotted her. Acting fast, he leapt up and snatched it away before she could get it.

"So, this is the thanks I get for saving your life," he stated sarcastically, starting toward her. Farah backed up.

"You don't understand," she nearly pleaded, "I need that dagger to undo—"

"To undo what I have done," he cut her off. "Truly you must think I am a fool."

"Ok, now, let's play nice, children," I interrupted walking between them, "if we're gonna fix this mess, we should stop fighting with each other and work together." The Prince glared at me. "Don't give me that look, because you know I'm right!" Even if he wouldn't admit it. Farah sighed.

"You have every right to be cautious," she said in a softer voice, "but fight as bravely as you may, you cannot defeat this enemy! The Sands will spread! They will consume…" she put her hand on his shoulder, "everything!" She lowered her voice again. "I've heard it said that you are kind, as well as brave. Please believe me." The Prince seemed to consider this for a moment before responding.

"The hourglass is in the sultan's treasure vault, atop the Tower of Dawn," he explained. Both of us looked at him.

"How do you know that?" Farah inquired. He shrugged.

"I just know. But if we're all going together, I move pretty fast. You'd better keep up. Both of you."

"Oh, that's right, get down on the ladies! That's just real gentleman-like!" I argued. He chose to ignore me. Farah, however, was already running towards the large hole in that wall leading outside. The Prince and I quickly followed to keep up.


	5. The Sultan's Zoo

Kiri: Sorry this one took so long! It's almost the end of the school year, so I've been swamped with work trying to get my grades up as much as possible before finals! Hopefully, when school gets out for the summer I'll have plenty of time to work on this story... at least until summer school starts. But until then, I probably won't be able to update much except on weekends.

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Chapter 5

"Get out of here!" The Prince yelled through tight teeth when Farah jumped down in the middle of the battle. Farah shouted something in reply, but I couldn't quite make it out. As far as I was concerned, she was freaking nuts to be jumping in the middle of a battle. Then again, she also had a weapon. I didn't. I'm starting to feel a little left out over here! Think someone up there can spare some kind of sharp object I can use to hit things with?! Sigh.

I stood there watching until the Prince got rid of the last Harem girl. I jumped down as he was sheathing his sword.

"You know, it really sucks when you have to stand out of the way and watch everyone else have all the fun just because you're unarmed," I complained.

"You call that fun?" Farah asked.

"No, not really." I looked towards Princy, who was heading up the steps towards a bunch of glowing sand. Farah saw him, too and we both followed.

"What are you…" she began, then gasped when she saw him heading for the sand cloud. "Be careful!" He didn't seem to be listening. He drew the dagger and stabbed it into the middle of the sand cloud and absorbed it into the dagger.

"Sand," he said simply, "I'll take it where I can get it." My mouth nearly hung open. Wow. I mean, WOW. He was so… wow… when he did that… I had to repress the urge to leap into the air and shout, "COOOL!"

Anyways, we made our way around, finding the switch to the gate on the other side, and of course, the path around the palace would just HAVE to collapse! I took one look at the drop and immediately latched onto the prince.

"Mommy!" I squeaked pathetically.

"You have wings, but you're afraid of heights," the prince mumbled, rolling his eyes and shoving me off.

"It's not the height that scares me… it's a knowledge of what will happen if I fall…" I continued to back away from the edge. Obviously not up for an argument with me, the prince wall ran across, landing on a small rooftop below.

"Are you alright?" Farah shouted down to him.

"Stay there! I'll try to find a way in!" he called back to us. I watched him wall run around the corner, then sniffled.

"There goes a stupid, stupid man," I announced, then turned back to Farah and smiled cheerfully.

"So… pretty night, huh?"

"I suppose," she answered simply. I looked up at the sky. Lots of stars up there… but also a creepy, swirling vortex surrounding the top of the Tower of Dawn.

"Whoa! Creepy!" I exclaimed when I spotted it. Farah also turned and looked. "It's like a big… vortex thingy of lightening! I want one!"

"Zervan is up there…"

"Do you have any idea what that loony is up to, exactly?" I questioned.

"I don't know. But I do know that whatever it is, it's bad for the rest of us." I thought about that for a moment. I'd already played most of the series. I say 'most' because I haven't finished Warrior Within yet, and I know that there were several other games dedicated to the series, except they were for handhelds, which I don't have. But I have played The Two Thrones, and I know exactly what the Vizier was after: Immortality. But he wasn't about to get it, not as long as I had something to say about it!

Only a few minutes later, Princy appeared on the other side of the gate and let us in. I almost kicked my own ass when he informed me that there was another fountain down there and I'd missed it.

"It's so quiet out there… it's terrible," Farah said after a moment of silence, "But also… beautiful."

"Maybe to you," the prince snapped back, a little aggressively. I was a little tempted to tell him to watch it unless he wanted a fat lip, but I decided against it. The three of us ascended the stairs that were there.

At the top, Farah quickly brought the large crack in the wall to our attention, especially when she managed to squeeze through it to the switch on the other side.

"You're a skinny little thing," the prince observed. I couldn't help but feel a small pinch of envy. Why couldn't I be that skinny? No, I had to have a fat ass and huge boobs… how lucky for me, I just feel so gifted. Not.

Anyway, Farah pulled the switch and the prince and I followed her around the corner and into the warehouse.

"…What is this place?" the Indian Princess inquired as we observed the area.

"Beats me, but whoever designed it needs to have their brain removed from their skulls and looked at," I stated. I always hated this level…

"We'll need to find a way down to the bottom," the prince said, looking over the edge. I shrugged.

"While I'm tempted to say something along the lines of a thanks to Captain Obvious for his remarkable observations of the immediate situation, I would just like to state that there seems to be no other direction to proceed in except for the already suggested route. But… it looks like plenty of lever pulling will be involved here." At the first part, I earned a small glare from the prince, which I inwardly smirked at.

"And, prince, be careful of those pincher thingies. Get caught in one of them and you'll be heading back to Babylon in a coffee can." I could tell he wasn't quite sure what I meant exactly, but he understood the warning.

"Alright. Stay here," he ordered and wall ran over to the platform, taking care not to get caught in the pincher thingies, and pulled the lever there. The ramps on either side of the room then spurred into motion and rotated around. Farah and I quickly headed downward and I pulled the lever there. Once again, the ramps moved, and so on and so forth. We navigated the whole thing down to the bottom, where Princy-boy went down to fight the big ugly Sand thingies, Farah stood on the edge shooting at them with her arrows, and I was left with nothing to do but sit and watch. Not that I really wanted to go down there and get killed, mind you, but I was starting to feel a bit guilty not helping out in battles.

After that mess was over and done with, I pointed out the two loose boxes in the area so the prince could drag them out and over the two floor switches in order to get back up here. We ran around through a few halls, leapt over some pits and we came out in the zoo.

"Where are we?" Farah asked softly when we emerged from the halls and back outside.

"This was the sultan's zoo," the prince answered, looking around as if intrigued by the surroundings.

"Zoo?!" I exclaimed, "Cool! Where's the monkey exhibit?! And I wanna see the kitties!" …Yeah, not really smart on my part. Both the Prince and Farah turned to give me looks. "…Sorry?" I shrunk back a little.

We continued along the path, the Prince dealing with the few Sand dudes that tried to ambush us. While he vaulted and flipped all over the place to get the gate opened, I made sure to keep a close watch on the sky… I was almost certain that some birds were perched around here…

"You did it!" Farah exclaimed happily as the prince made it over the wall and opened the gate for us. We walked a bit further… and I found that I was right. I grit my teeth together as they left their perches at our approach. "Birds… I wonder how they survived the sands?" But I saw the look on the prince's face.

"I don't think they did survive," he said in a low, firm, ready for battle voice. He drew his sword.

"Birds?! I hate birds! They're so useless!" I complained. But that didn't stop them from attacking. I once again stood back, hoping that none of them would catch sight of me. Farah shot at them with her arrows, missing most of the time, leaving most of the work to the prince, whom wasn't doing so well. I cringed as another bird dashed forward and struck him with its beak. He swung at it, but missed. "Prince!" I shouted, "Block them! Then attack while they're trying to get away!" He threw me a quick glance, but tried my method. It worked, of course and soon, all the birdies were gone. "See? My methods keep working! Maybe that's an omen for you to start listening to me a little more," I teased as I strutted past the prince, my hand on my hip in a mock snob way.

"Just how exactly do you come up with all these methods of combat, Naomi?" he asked me somewhat suspiciously. "It couldn't possibly be all from simple observation." I just flashed him a mysterious smile and struck a goofy model pose.

"What's the matter, princy? You don't love me anymore?" I playfully stuck out my bottom lip at him and gave him my saddest puppy-dog eyes.

"I never loved you in the first place," he responded, obviously not understanding that it was a figure of speech. "And I just find it strange that you seem to know exactly how to defeat every enemy we've come across."

"Is now really the best time for this?" Farah interrupted, "We aren't making very good time by standing around being suspicious of one another, so can we please move on?" I could tell that there was a lot more the prince wanted to say to me. Questions that he wanted to ask but couldn't at the moment. Questions that sooner or later I would have to come up with answers for.

I dwelled on this while he once again played monkey boy and flipped around the area, opening gates, Farah crawling through cracks and whatnot. What the hell was I gonna say when he decided to ask me who the hell I really was, and where exactly I'd come from? I couldn't just say that I was from another world! I'd just have to say that I was from elsewhere… but then how would I explain my wings to him? And even if I could explain all that somehow, I'd also have to come up with a reason why I knew exactly how to fight Sand thingies. I was in a bit of a bind… I couldn't even tell him the truth!

Then my thoughts shifted to my wings again and the battle with the Sand King. I remembered when I'd kicked him in the face and brought him down. Now that I thought about it in past tense, it all seemed like a big blur. All I really remembered was that sudden feeling like I knew exactly what to do and how to do it. I remember being on top of the railing, extending my wings and… Bam. I'd also gone much farther than I normally would have gliding.

I looked back at the white, feathery limbs and started wondering about them. Where exactly had they come from? And what was the connection between them and those fountains? And what did those voices mean when they said 'we've found you at last, Angel.'? I didn't understand it all, and I knew I wouldn't understand for a while.


	6. Silver Blood and A New Sword

Kiri: At last, an update from me! Sorry, fellas, I've been totally swamped with end of the year projects and whatnot, and next week in final exams... lots of stuff to do! But I'm hoping to get at least two updates this weekend, this one included. And btw, I've decided to put in an FAQ at the bottom... for... statigic sheep purpouses... yeah... i'll shut up now...

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Chapter 6 

The baths. One of the more interesting levels, I admit, but so far, the moisture wasn't working real well for my wings. Well… they weren't working that well for me, either, since all I could do was glide…

"Hey! Prince! Check me out!" I shouted from the top of the small little waterfall in the first area of the baths. When they both looked up at me, I struck a goofy leader pose and grinned.

"What are you doing up there?" Farah asked, a small smile tugging at her mouth.

"I am Naomi Fox! Queen of the Baths!" I declared loudly, "and there's nothing you girls can do about it!"

"Are you implying that I am a woman?" the prince asked, smirking in my direction, folding his arms in challenge. I put one hand on my hip and leaned back, faking a yawn, waving my hand at him dismissively.

"A Queen should not have to answer to her subjects," I said in a pompous tone. Oh, that definitely spurred him into motion.

"Oh, we'll see about that!" he declared, and sprinted up the small stairs after me. I yelled out when I saw him coming after me and darted of in the other direction. He, however, caught up very quickly to me, tackled me and pinned me on the ground. "Surrender or die!"

"Never! You will never take my thrown from me, so don't even try, girly girl!" Bad move, Naomi. He gave me a menacing stare, and at first, I thought I'd said something stupid, until he started tickling me. That completely blew me out of the water, no pun intended, and I cringed, wiggled, squirmed and laughed until I thought my gut would explode trying to worm away from him.

"How about now, huh?" he taunted me, giving me a moment to answer.

"Is… is that the… the worst you got, you PANSY?!" He shrugged.

"Have it your way." He started ticking me again, but this time, he didn't get very far before Farah intervened, grabbing his arms and dragging him off of me.

"Naomi! Quick!" she encouraged. I just grinned slyly as the prince realized that he was being conspired against.

"Payback time!" I shouted, then jumped on him and gave him a nice, hard swallow of his own medicine. It was awesome, especially since he had some easy-to-find tickle spots. I tickled him right back until I thought he'd lose bladder control and I let off. Then I stood up and posed victoriously. "Victory belongs to me! Naomi Fox! Hail to the Chief, baby!"

"Farah! You traitor!" the prince cried pathetically. She only smiled and shrugged.

"Sorry."

"Ah, yes! My ally! You get nice a place on my council!" I declared cheerfully, pointing at Farah.

"I accept most graciously!" she replied over dramatically, bowing falsely. We both giggled. The prince just shook his head and got to his feet.

"Why do I get the feeling that you two will be the death of me yet?" he asked.

"Because you love us," I replied, hands behind my back in an innocent looking stance. He just shook his head and looked up towards the next gate.

"We better keep moving," he said simply. Farah and I nodded once before following him. But as the prince moved the statue blocking a large crack in the wall, she and I glanced at each other again. I could tell and we were going to get along just fine…

Since I was way outmatched compared to Farah when it came to body structure, I couldn't go through the crack. No, instead, lucky me, I had to follow the prince through the PIT OF DOOOOOM!!!

The second I walked in and that spiked thingy fell from the ceiling and started swinging, I turned white and immediately turned on my heel to leave. Unfortunately, the prince caught me before I got far. Somehow, he managed to talk me into it.

"Princy, if we live through this, remind me to kill you in your sleep one of these days."

"It's only a short distance, Naomi!" he argued, "and you have wings! How hard could it be?"

"Yeah, I have wings. Wings that don't flippin' work! How many times do I have to remind you of that little detail?! And you know I can't climb like you can!"

"You're making a big deal out of nothing."

"Nothing?! Maybe it's nothing to you! To me, it's get halfway up the wall and fall to my death screaming like a little girl! I'm not even half the athlete you are! Hell, I can't even jump over a gap!" At this point, he looked like he would like nothing more than to grab me and throw me up there himself, but he just let out an aggravated sigh.

"Get on my back," he ordered. I looked at him blankly.

"Huh?"

"Get on my back," he repeated, pointing his thumb behind him. "And hold on."

"Uh… okay?" I got behind him and hauled myself up onto his back, my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. With me secured there, he put one foot on the wall as though testing to see how far he would get with the extra weight, and then stepped back and wall ran up. He couldn't go as far as he normally could, and he couldn't jump as far, so it took us a little longer to reach the top.

Getting to the door leading into the baths, however, was a completely different story. There were sand monsters in there, and with the spike pole swinging back and forth over our heads, I had no place to hide. Yeah, I was royally screwed.

It was a bit difficult for the prince to climb up over the edge and run out with me on his back, but after that, I didn't press my luck. I jumped off and let him start fighting the monsters while I just ran out of the way, hid in a corner and hope to whatever deity was listening that I wouldn't be spotted. After a while, though just when I started getting confident that I was safe, one of the harem girls discovered me.

The thing just teleported right in front of me, taking me completely by surprise, and all I could do for a moment was stand there and gape like someone had just switched my brain off. A bit too long, unfortunately… my brain started back up again with a vengeance just when it was too late to escape. I quickly ducked out of the way as the creature swung her weapons. I hissed and ground my teeth at her blade caught my arm and tore a gash in my bicep. I ran, holding my other hand to the wound. But I didn't get far before the Harem girl teleported again _right in front of me._ I skidded to a halt and tried to move my butt in the other direction as quick as possible, and managed to get out of that bind, but Miss Butt Naked just teleported again!

"Damn you! Would you just leave me alone?! I never did anything to you!" I tried to get away again, and again, and again, but this strategy just wasn't working! "Look, if you leave me alone, I know a nice clothes shop you could go to and get some real good bargains on some pants!" I tried, but of course, I didn't work. "PRINCE! A little help here!"

"I'm a little busy!" He shouted in reply. I glanced over, seeing that he was still dealing with the remaining Sand Creatures.

"Farah!" I shouted, "would you mind getting this chick off my tail?!"

"I don't have a clear shot!" she answered back.

"DAMN IT ALL!!!" I finally just grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on and threw it back at the meddlesome monster, hopeing that it would at least slow her sown. I stood and blinked at the pillow I'd grabbed slammed into her, and knocked her back into the water, where she basically disintegrated. "Uh…" was all I could say.

"There's something glowing up there," Farah told us when we regrouped, "I saw it from the ledge." I couldn't help but grin. It was a new sword! But I wasn't about to let them know that. Why ruin the surprise?

"Did you see what it was?" the prince asked. Farah shook her head.

"No, I didn't. And why are you grinning?"

"Oh… uh… nothing, I was just thinking about something stupid," I said, trying to keep from laughing.

"And what exactly were you thinking about?" the prince pressed me. I shook my head.

"Nothing. Just go get the shiny thingy on the ledge, ok?" I gave a quick encouraging smile before turning and walking up the stairs in the middle of the room.

"Naomi, wait!" Princy stopped me, "you're arm…" I suddenly noticed that I'd hand my hand over the wound from the Harem girl this whole time. I guess the adrenaline rush from trying to get away had numbed it temporarily. But now that the prince mentioned it, it started to sting.

I lifted my hand away from it, seeing the nasty gash there still bleeding. The only thing was, it wasn't blood. Or, it was blood, but it wasn't red… it was silver. Whatever it was, it was steadily dripping down my arm, leaving a glistening path behind it.

"What happened?" the prince asked me as he came over and looked at the oddity.

"…Just a scratch…" I answered in a sort of zoned-out voice.

"What is that?" Farah inquired, also coming over to see what the fuss was and seeing my arm. "Is that… blood?"

"I think it is blood…" I answered. "Huh… wacky." I jerked my arm away, covering it again. "Well, anyway, Prince, you go find a way up to the shiny. I'll clean this thing down here while you do that. Okies?"

"Uh… right," he answered. So while he and Farah worked to open gates to switches, drained the water and whatnot, I sat by the small pool of water that hid the switch that Farah stood on, cleaning the wound in my arm. The cold water made I sting at first, and it bled more than I would've liked, but it stopped after a while. After it was clean, I tore a strip of my shirt and bandaged it. It was a bit slapdash, but it was all I could do at the moment. I kept coming back to that whole 'Angel' thing. I mean, wings, silver blood? What next? Blue hair? I think it's definitely safe to assume at this point that the angel is supposed to be me. It doesn't take a German rocket scientist to figure out that someone on the other side wants me to be an angel. Well, in my opinion, they could've done a lot better. I mean, I can't fight, my grades in school leave much to be desired, I'm not cunning, I'm not strong, hell, I've never even set foot in a church before! So why the heck was this happening to me?

The Indian Princess and I just watched from a distance as the prince did all of his fancy acrobatic moves and made his way to the ledge where the shiny was.

"I think I see that glow you were talking about!" he called down to us from his high position.

"Be careful!" Farah called back.

"It would be so stupid if he missed one of those poles and fell back down here," I commented, smirking. Farah, however, didn't seem so keen on my idea of a joke.

"No it wouldn't! It would be awful! A fall like that could kill him!" she argued. I sighed.

"I was kidding. Lighten up."

"You think that's funny?"

"Forget it already. Sheesh… no sense of humor…"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Hey prince, did you get the shiny yet?!" I didn't get an answer, but I did hear some clinking. Yep, he'd found the sword. Now he could do even more cool badass uber cool prince stuff! Like smash walls!

I grinned like a fool until her rejoined us with his new sword in hand, his old one still on his back. He quickly looked at me.

"Naomi, there is a fountain back in that hall, if you're interested," he said simply.

"Fountain?" Farah inquired curiously, but she went ignored when I started jumping around.

"A FOUNTAIN! Well, what are you waiting for?! ONWARD, SAYS I!" I turned on the ball of my foot and started marching towards the hall that the prince had just emerged from, but he grabbed me by my collar before I could get far.

"Hold on, I think you should keep this to defend yourself with. It will make things much easier on all of us," he explained. I turned around, and he quickly put his old sword in my hand. I stared at him a moment, then at the sword, then back at him.

"Uh, ok, thanks! Now… TO THE FOUNTAIN! FOLLOW ME, MEN! I KNOW THE WAY!" I skipped into the corridor, whooping like the idiot I was until I reached the large hole in the wall that the prince had torn down with his new blade. I stopped and waited for him, and together, we descended to the Fountain of Mysteries.

* * *

Kiri: WHOO! FAQ TIME! 

Naomi: at last! A place where we can critisize the authoress of this story for being a balloon head!

Kiri: HEY!

Prince: Yeah, it's about time you let us have some freedom! It was getting cramped in there!

Kiri: oh, quit whining. FAQ!

Q: so... is this gonna be another sappy romantic love story between the OC and the prince?

A: well... I'm a hopeless romantic, so I would love to make it one of them, but I suppose it really all depends on what my lovely readers want.

Q: What's with the silver blood?

A: Eh, not much, really. I just wanted to emphasize the fact that Naomi is changing to fit her 'Angel' role, but she really has no idea what the heck is going on.

Naomi: Because _someone_ won't freaking tell us!

Prince: Yeah! Why all the secrets?!

A: Now now, if I told you guys, the element of surprise would be ruined!

Naomi: Screw the element of surprise! This is my life we're talking about! What the heck are you planning?!

A: That's for me to know and you to find out.

Q: Is Naomi gonna get to fly soon?

A: ...mmmm... maaaayyyybeeee...

Q: wil she get some kind of special holy power?

A: haven't decided yet...

Naomi: i better get something! I can't justy keep running around the battlefeilds like a headless chicken!

Kiri: Oh, sure you can. But that's all the time I have now. Until he next update!


	7. Blue Hair and Working Wings

Chapter 7

Remember what I said about blue hair? How freakin' ironic that it would end up being the case. When the prince and I were teleported outside of the fountain, I stretched and sighed happily.

"Another fountain in the bag! Well, let's get going!" Once again, I started marching off, when I noticed the prince staring at me oddly. "…what?" He pointed at my head.

"You're hair…" he said in puzzlement, "it's different."

"Huh? What, there's nothing wrong with my—" something blue fell in my eyes. I went cross eyed and grabbed at it, only to realize that it was my hair. "HOLY SWEET GODS OF THE VIDEOGAMES! MY HAIR!" I turned full circle trying to see what had become of my once blonde locks… they had turned sky blue, and had grown so now it was brushing against my ass. After I was sure that it was real and not some sick joke, I looked at the prince and shrugged. "It's real."

"Naomi… you're hair…" Farah said in almost the same manner as the prince when the three of us regrouped again.

"Yes, I know. I don't know what the flippin' heck is going on here, but someone better step up and tell me soon, cuz I'm getting tired of not knowing what all this Angel business is."

"Angel?" the prince inquired.

"…I never told you about that, did I?"

"I'm afraid you didn't."

"Well, it's not a long story, so go smash that wall down over there and I'll tell you." After the prince had smashed through the broken wall, I briefly explained to both him and Farah what had happened in the first fountain. Niether of them understood either, but hey, at least now we were all on the same page. Once I'd finished explaining myself, we descended down the stairs to the ruins of the ancient palace area thingy.

"Where are we?" Farah asked, gazing around in awe.

"It was said that this palace was build on top of the ruins of an even more ancient one…" the prince elaborated, "I thought that was just a story…"

"Well, I guess it's not. But this place is giving me the creeps!" I was fine until we got to the wide-open area. On the stairs, I'd got this weird cold feeling in my gut. I'd ignored it, figuring it was just the atmosphere of the place. But at the bottom, I nearly freaked. There weren't just any old ruins. There was something about them that was causing my instinct to raise all kinds of hell, screaming as loud as it could at me to get my ass out of there _now._

"Hey, are you alright?" Farah asked me when she noticed me sort of lagging behind as the prince moved the stone table thingy on the other side of the balcony to the middle.

"This place…" I muttered. Every inch of my sensible side was shouting, scratching and itching to turn and run. "There's something… not right about this place…"

"You're trembling…"

"I'll meet you two on the other side," I said simply, then spread my wings and took to the air. I have no idea how the hell I knew how to do that right then. I'm betting that it was because of the adrenaline rush that somehow summoned forth the know-how. But I flew. I flew out of the wide-open area, turned the handle at the top to open the gate, flew right past the scarab infested hallway, over the large pit in the next hallway and stopped at the top of the ladder. Although I was itching to get out of there, there was no way I could take the next batch of sand creatures by myself.

I sat against the wall and waited, rather impatiently for the prince and Farah to catch up. It was the longest wait I'd ever experienced. That feeling kept scratching at my insides, sending wave after wave of panic through me, shrieking and begging me to get up and run away, until I started considering going in there and fighting the sand beasts by my self.

I didn't know why I was feeling this way… I had no clue what was so horrible about a bunch of old crumbled ruins that it would make me a nervous wreck. But in the back of my mind, I could sense something sinister about them… I felt vulnerable down there… it was like there was something in there that had sensed my presence and didn't want me there and it was purposely sending these vibes out to drive me away. Well, it was doing a damn good job of it.

I nearly clobbered the prince when he came up the ladder after Farah and practically begged that we get out of there as soon as possible. It took both him and Farah to pry my arms off of him.

"We really need to leave this place!" I exclaimed again.

"Why? What's the matter?" Farah asked. I backed up to the wall and shrunk down.

"There's something bad about these ruins…" I squeaked.

"Then why are you still here?" the prince inquired.

"Uh, hello! Do you see what I see?" I demanded, pointing through the hall into the next room with the Sand monsters. "There is no way I can take all of them by myself!" the Prince stared down the hall into the next room for a moment.

"There don't seem to be very many of them this time around… It shouldn't take very long," he mused.

"Easy for you to say! You've been doing this for years! But you're talking to someone who's never even _held_ a sword before, much less _used_ one!" I exclaimed. He shrugged and started walking.

"Maybe it's time you learned, then." I almost fell over.

"Thank a lot, Prince Charming!"

I had a death grip on the handle of my sword when the two of us walked in. Enviously, I looked back at Farah, whom had her bow loaded and ready. Lucky… All she had to do was hang back and shoot. The prince was a freakin' ATHORITY when it came to sword skills, and here I was, the bumbling sidekick who had little to no experience in combat and who had the fighting ability equivalent to a pineapple. So when the actually fighting started, I kinda freaked. …Ok, I really freaked. …Ok, I ran around the room, screaming like a little girl for a few minutes before remembering the sword in my hand. Then I ran around the room, screaming like a little girl, swinging the sword around aimlessly, taking down everything within radius.

"…I don't even know what to say to that…" the prince stated simply when I'd ended my panic attack and shuffled back over to him and Farah.

"It was rather amusing, though," Farah added.

"Ah, Shaddup…" I grumbled, carefully sliding my sword into my pant leg. …Hey, I had nowhere else to put it! "Let's just get out of here! There's a broken wall over there. Prince, go smash it." He looked a tiny bit annoyed that I had ordered him to do it, but he didn't say anything, and broke through the wall. We went down the hall (stopping for a quick water break at the fountain) and reached a sealed door.

"We'll need to open this door," the prince stated, "Look for a switch." It didn't take us long to find said switch, since it was so poorly hidden behind a bunch of barrels. The only problem was that it led into the Solders' Mess Hall. We were officially out of those ruins, so that little panicking voice had quieted down, but now a new voice had taken its place. This voice was telling me that I needed to hide and figure out how the heck I was gonna defend myself. Immediately when the battle began, I leapt over the small ledge to my right and landed ungracefully on the ground. I huddled in the corner there, hoping I wouldn't be noticed and started plotting.

I wasn't completely defenseless anymore, so the prince and Farah were undoubtedly going to expect me to help to some degree during battles now, other than just running around, shrieking, waving my blade around recklessly. Wow, this would be so much easier if my enemies weren't actually out to kill me! Sighing, I drew out my sword and stood up. Half of me couldn't believe what I was doing, but now wasn't the time for internal debates over common sense and self-preservation. It was time I proved that I wasn't completely useless.

"HEY! BUCKET HEAD! OVER HERE!" I shouted loudly, trying to draw some attention away from the prince and Farah so they would have an easier time. Unfortunately, _every single one of them _looked at me. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all… "Uh oh…" The minute they all turned their focus away from the prince and Farah and on to me, I gulped hard, and my survival instincts kicked in. I ran back down the steps, most of them right on my tail. Luckily, though, Princy came to my rescue and cut down several of them while they're attention was on me. Occasionally, I turned and threw out a few swipes from my own sword, most of which were blocked, but some of them hit their mark. Eventually, the lot of them was cut down.

I sat on the big stone blocks and sighed heavily, wondering what the hell had just happened.

"The next time I do something like that… run me over!" I exclaimed.

"For a novice, you didn't do so bad," the prince encouraged.

"Yeah, thanks… whatever…" My heart was still trying to calm down. "So what now?" The prince put his hands on his hips and took a good look around the upper area of the room.

"Well, I think I see a path to that gate up there… I should be able to climb up to it."

"Good! Then go do it while I lay here and die."

"Naomi, do you think you could fly up there?" I looked at him sideways.

"…Why do you keep asking me that… I keep telling you they don't work."

"You flew out of the ruins, didn't you?"

"…"

"Well?"

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that…" I grinned nervously and rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, I guess I can give it a go." I got to my feet and looked back at my wings. They'd definitely grown. Maybe now they would let me fly. I focused on my back muscles and tried to will them to move. They budged, but not by much. I kept trying. They moved a little more… I tried to forced them into motion… they moved a little more… Now more confident, I kept trying to flap them, and every time they moved a little more… until…

"WHOOHOO!!! CHECK ME OUT! YOU KNOW YOU WANNA BE ME RIGHT NOW! OH YEAH, I'M AWESOME!" It had worked. _It had worked! _I was zooming through the air right now, shouting joyously at no one in particular. This had to be the most awesome experience of my entire life! It was like being on a roller coaster! No, better than being on a roller coaster! I was doing loops and back flips and all kinds of tricks in the air. It would've been an even better experience if they hadn't been getting so tired. "CHECK ME OUT!" I did another loop.

"You can stop showing off any time and get back down here, Naomi!" the prince yelled at me, but I wasn't listening.

"I CAN FLY! I CAN FLY!" I shouted joyously, my eyes shut. Only too late did I look and see the wall coming towards me real quick. "OH CRAP! OH CRAP!" I tried to break, but I couldn't, and I smashed right into it at full dash. "Owie…" I slid down the wall a few inches before peeling off and falling to the ground. Luckily the prince caught me before I became paint on the floor.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked me, exasperated.

"Ooooowwww… yes, teacher..."

"Good."

* * *

Kiri: Yay! Another chapter completed! 

Naomi: That really hurt, you know!

Kiri: Well, don't look at me! I didn't make you slam into the wall!

Naomi: Yes you did!

Prince: It was pretty funny, though...

Naomi: (death glare)

Prince: ...uh... sorry?

Farah: So, are we gonna do the FAQ of what?

Kiri: Oh, fine, fine, fine.

Q: What was the deal with the ruins?

A: You'll find out later... much later. Like, sequal later.

Q: there will be a sequal?

A: Well, I'm certainly planning for it. My origional idea was to go through all three games like they were in the actual game, but I may or may not, depending of if this turns into a Prince x OC fic.

Q: Will it?

A: It all depends on my lovely readers. I just wish they would reveiw and tell me!

Q: Ok... whats with the blue hair thing?

A: Once more, Naomi is changing. Her body is going from human to Angel.

Q: That's really cool that she can fly now!

A: You like that, eh? Too bad she can only stay in flight for five minutes right now...

Naomi: WHAT?!

A: Oh, nothing, nothing...

Kiri: Anyways, that's all the time we have for now, so until the next chappy, read and reveiw!


	8. Michelangelo

Chapter 8

"Oh! I remember this!" I exclaimed absentmindedly as we entered the room with the big spiral-thingy platform in the center. "This thingy is fun!"

"Good. Then you will have no trouble telling us how to work it," the prince declared, his hand on my shoulder. I stopped.

"Uh…." I could just imagine the look he was giving me right now. "Uh…… I forgot?"

"Just great!" he exclaimed, smacking his forehead. I shrugged innocently.

"Sorry?"

"Just… fly up there and see if you can figure something out."

"Sir yes sir!" I saluted, then opened my wings and flew straight up, landing smoothly on the platform. I'd found out that I could only stay in the air for a few minutes before my wings tired out and I had to rest them.

From my new position, I looked around. In front of me, there was a big gap with a lever on the other side, and behind me was another lever without the big gap.

"Yo, guys! I think I remember! But I—" I stopped suddenly and looked towards the hole in the wall. Not only had I heard something, but also I'd caught it from the corner of my eye.

"But you what?" Farah persisted.

"I…" I'd lost my train of thought by this point. I got that feeling in my stomach again that something was a little… off. It wasn't like in the ruins, when all I'd wanted to do was get the hell out of there. This time, it was more like there was something out there that needed to be dealt with. I squinted a little, thinking that maybe I would see it again.

"Naomi! What's going on up there!" the prince yelled at me.

"Sorry, guys, you'll have to figure it out on your own!" I called, then spread my wings again and took to the air towards the hole.

"Naomi!" the prince yelled at me, but I didn't listen. I flew through the gap to the outside and hovered there for a moment before landing on the ledge below. I glanced around, looking for some kind of clue that would lead me to what I was looking for, but I found no trace of anything unusual…

It took me completely by surprise when something suddenly tackled me hard enough to throw me several yards. I hit the wall and bounced off and landed haphazardly on the ground. It took me a moment to catch my breath again, but when I did, I took an immediate disliking to whoever the wise-ass was. Said jerk was standing several feet away, hands on his hips, laughing smugly.

He was tall and rather thin and lanky, a few years older than me, maybe nineteen or twenty. His clothes were similar to mine, time-wise. He wore tight-fitting black jeans, and simple black shirt, a black leather belt with silver jewels embedded around it, spiked wristbands and motorcycle boots. He had a sort of light, sort of tan complexion and his hair was dark brown and looked untamed, though average length. But one thing that struck me as odd was that he also had wings. Only instead of pearly white, like mine, they were grayish-black.

"So you're the new Angel, are you?" he asked me in a cocky voice, turning his bright forest green eyes on me. "Hmm, too bad… I was expecting more of a challenge… but you'll do."

"Just who the hell are you exactly?" I demanded.

"Hmm, not too bright, either… but then again, you are a newbie…" he smirked, "my name is Michelangelo. But you can just call me Mike."

"Alright, Mike," I pulled out my sword, "what do you want?" He eyed the blade in my hand for a moment, eyebrow raised.

"You're certainly to the point, aren't you? Let me tell you something, kitten, that little butter knife of yours will do you no good against someone like me. So," he folded his arms, "why don't you just put it away, and we'll talk." Even though I would never admit it, he had a point. I was a novice with this thing. He was probably one of those hard-core warrior guys that packs a sword ten times bigger than mine. I probably wouldn't last three seconds against him… Careful not to cut my leg off, I 'sheathed' it. "On second thought, maybe you aren't so dumb, after all." I was about to open my mouth and argue, then tell him to bug off, but before I could get the words out, Mike dove forward at lightening speed, hooked one arm around my waist and flew straight up. I hardly had time to respond before he dumped me on the roof.

"Since I'm not in the mood to deal with those mortals you've been hanging around, I think up here would be a much more satisfactory place to conduct business, don't you agree?" he asked, gesturing to the open sky. I just glared.

"What 'business' are you talking about exactly?" He folded his arms.

"Well, for starters, how about your name?"

"What's it to you?" I demanded.

"A lot."

"Naomi Fox." Looking annoyed, he rolled his eyes.

"Not your human name! You're true name! You're angelic name!"

"I don't have any other name!" Now looking like he'd lost his patience, he darted forward again, snatching my arm before I could react. He effortlessly wrestled me over his knee and held me there, holding my arms behind my back in a very uncomfortable position, while he brush my hair away from my neck with his free hand.

"Angel Samira, is it? But what's this? No rank? That isn't good, now is it…"

"Let go, you thug!" I shouted as loud as I could, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He ignored me.

"Looks like I've just found another recruit."

"Recruit?! Recruit for what?!" I started fighting harder. Sighing, he shoved me hard enough to throw me on the ground.

"Dear lord, are you really that stupid? Of all things, I thought you would at least know about the Renegades!"

"Renegades?" He just stared at me this time, seeing that I really had no clue what he was talking about.

"Wow, you really are clueless, aren't you?" No shit, Sherlock. His smirked returned. "Well, all the more reason to enlist you." He started towards me again, but this time, I took the initiative. I jumped to my feet, spread my wings and darted forward, leaping into flight, fleeing as fast as I could. "Damn it! Don't make me chase you, Angel!" I heard him shout. "You won't get far!" I didn't care at this point. All I knew was that I didn't want to be 'recruited' into whatever crazy cult or guild he belonged to. I wanted nothing to do with him.

Unfortunately, he was right. I knew I wouldn't get far before I tired myself out. I had to get as much distance between us as possible and find a place to hide long enough to rest and then find the Prince. I'd be safer with him and Farah.

For a moment, I thought for sure I would be able to out run him—er, out _fly_ him, but I quickly found out, with shocking disappointment, that he was right on my tail. Alarmed, I forced my wings to go even faster, and faster, and even faster, not that it made much difference. Mike was having no problems keeping up with me. I could feel myself starting to tire from the labor I was putting into speed.

"You know, kid, you're only making this harder on yourself!" Mike called from right next to me. I looked at him, stunned that he was able to keep up… I started to panic. I started turning sharply, heading downward toward where there were more obstacles, hoping that I could lose him that way.

I weaved rather ungracefully through the trees, fences, and monuments and walls that made up the many courtyards of the palace hoping that Mike would lose my trail. He didn't. He stayed right on top of me, constantly reminding me that I was only delaying the inevitable. That no matter what I did, he was going to 'initiate' me. The more he told me that, the more terrified I became of whatever it was he planned to do to me, and the more I forced my wings to keep moving as fast as they could.

Faster and faster I urged them, and it became harder and harder to stay airborne. I'd been running for several minutes now, and I was tired as hell. I started lagging a little.

"Aw, you're not giving up so soon, are you? Things were just getting interesting!" Mike complained tauntingly from next to me. I realized by that point that this whole time, he'd just been playing with me. He could've easily caught me any time he wanted. But instead of grabbing me quickly, he forced me to over step my limits and exhaust myself by staying right on my tail. He'd tricked me into panicking and pushing myself as far as I could possibly go, so he would have an easier time 'recruiting' me against my will.

Unable to go any farther, my fatigued wings gave up the gun and I collapsed on the ground, too tired to move. I'd put all my energy into flying. I couldn't even hold myself up. I just laid there, too tired to do anything other than pant, while Mike landed smoothly on the ground several yards away.

"I tried to tell you not to make me chase you, Angel. You should've listened." He approached me with an air of 'I'm going to enjoy this' then knelt down next to me, putting his hand firmly on my back between my wings. I felt a warm sensation glide over my back from where his hand was, then creep around my shoulder blades, then it started the hurt, and then I started to scream.

Despite how tired I was I swung my arms around, trying to knock him away, or something that would stop him. But it was no use. He had me pinned down, and whatever he was doing was becoming unceasingly painful as it started consuming most of my back and neck and my wings. I yelled at him to stop. I begged him to stop. But he didn't. I knew it was hopeless…

"Leave her alone, Mike!" a new voice shouted. I didn't recognize it, nor could I see whom it belonged to, but whoever it was, Mike stopped dead in his tracks.

"What? You again? Are you stalking me or something?" he demanded taking his hand off my back. I shut me eyes and heaved a great sigh of relief as the pain started to subside.

"Hard at work forcing new angels to join your so-called cause, I see? That's despicable. One of these days…"

"Why is this one so important that you would come all the way here? Hell, she didn't even know her own name."

"Oh, you have no idea…" I heard the sounds of wings in the air, and the ring of swords being pulled from scabbards, but that was about all I heard before my poor brain just gave up and decided to stop trying to get everything and just take a good, long rest…

* * *

Kiri: Phew! At last! Another chappy is up!

Naomi: Lazy author...

Kiri: hey! I've been cramming for finals all bloody week! There's no way you can call me lazy after that!

Naomi: really? then what about all those classes that didn't have finals? Did you stay up all night, cramming in order to just sit there and do nothing for two hours?

Kiri:...shut up. So... FAQ! Hey, I've got an idea! let's do this FAQ like Rhea does her's in Dark Dreams! Who wants to?

Prince: OH! OH! ME! ME! PICK ME!

Farah: ...O.o

Kiri: Fine, fine. Princy can do it.

Prince: (leaps in the air) YAY! (looks at everyone else, who is staring at him) Er, I mean, thank you, I am honored.

Naomi: Prince, don't do that again...

Q: Who the hell is this Mike dude?!

A: Well, I'm not all that sure, but I'm fairly certain that he'll be popping up a lot.

Mike: Oh, you bet your ass I will!

Naomi: GAH! WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?!

Mike: Oh, chill out, Nay nay. I'm not out to get you... at the moment.

Naomi: ...

Q: What the freak is with that guy?

A: well, I-

Naomi: I know! He's just some gangstah jerk with nothing better to do that go around, tormenting people who are new to this wholeAngel thing!

Mike: (snickering) Oh, if only you knew just how wrong you are...

A: ANYWAY! I'm not sure, since the authoress hasn't told us much about it, but I know that he'll be a thorn in Naomi's side for a while.

Naomi: GREAT! Just Great!

Q: Naomi has another name? What the crap...?

A: Her name and her angelic name, from what I've been told. she'll always be Naomi to me.

Q: So then... what the heck was he doing to her?

A: Not sure, but nothing good, to say the least.

Mike: I was TRYING to convert her... if someone hadn't decided to interupt... (grumble grumble)

Q: Yeah, just who did interupt and save Naomi's ass?

A: I think we'll all have to wait forthe next chapter to find that out.

Kiri: he's right, too! Sorry to say that the next chapter may or may not include princy or Farah, but they will be back in action very soon. So, until the next chapter! and make sure to leave a reveiw! Those always make me happy.


	9. On the Road Again!

Chapter 9

"Angel… wake up…" Wherever I was, I was comfortable. I hadn't had a good sleep since I'd gotten stuck in this world either, so needless to say, whoever was trying to get me up was just gonna have to wait. "Angel, come on, wake up." No. Sleeeeeppppyyyyyy… I heard a heavy sigh… "THE SAND MONSTERS ARE ATTACKING!"

"GAH! WHERE!" I leapt to me feet, my body ready to turn and run at any given moment.

"Finally. Lazy girl." I sprung around again, ready for a fight, but luckily, there was nothing there to immediately consider an enemy. There was a woman sitting on the ground there, her long, smooth legs tucked underneath her. I'm glad to say that she looked much friendlier than Mike. She had short, light blonde hair, light skin and light blue eyes. Her outfit consisted of a white blousy V-neck, skintight denim shorts and light brown suede boots that reached her knees. "I can understand being unconscious for a long while after almost being turned renegade, but goodness, for a moment, I thought you were dead!" She got up and brushed herself off.

"Uh… sorry?" I apologized, unsure if I should act friendly or not.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, are you alright?"

"…I think so."

"Are you sure?"

"…No…" Sighing and smiling at the same time, she reached in her pocket and retrieved a small glass bottle filled with a clear blue liquid. She came closer, uncapped it and put it in my hand.

"Here. Drink." I eyed the liquid suspiciously.

"What is it?"

"Water from the Fountain of Life."

"The what?"

"Water from those underground fountains you and the Prince have been stumbling across."

"Oh… ok…" I gulped down about half of the contents before giving it back to her. A moment later, just like if I were drinking right out of the fountain, I felt that familiar tingling, followed by some slight light-headedness, then I felt great! "So… who exactly was that guy?" I asked, handing the bottle back to her.

"Mike? Oh, he's just another annoying renegade, trying to bully you into becoming another of his kind."

"His 'kind'?" she looked at me a moment, then shook her head.

"Sorry, I forget that you're new to this whole thing. Let's start over," she extended her hand. "Hi there, I'm Gabriella, a fellow Angel, but please call me Gabby." I shook her hand.

"Naomi Fox." Again, she looked at me oddly.

"Is that your human name or your Angelic name?"

"Uh…"

"It's your human name. Well, rule of thumb is that angels call each other by their angel names. But since you're new, and you're used to your human name, I think we'll make an exception."

"What's the deal with all these names? Mike made a big deal out of knowing my other name… I didn't even know I had any other name!" She laughed.

"I figured you wouldn't. Most new angels don't even know they have another name until they get to the Academy. It's written on the backs of our necks in angelic calligraphy. Here, I'll read you yours." She stepped around behind me and started pulling my hair out of the way. To make it easier, I just grabbed it all and pulled it over my shoulder. I felt the tip of her finger lightly brush against my neck. "You're name is… Angelina Samira."

"Angelina…Samira…" I echoed. I don't know why, but I automatically liked the sound of it.

"Unless I miss my guess, I think it means 'angelic guardian.' Well, I bet I know where you're going."

"Where?"

"Guardian Angel ranking, of course!" I turned and gave a look of pure confusion. This whole thing was really starting to run so far ahead that it was losing me real fast. Actually, I take that back. It already lost me. It lost me when Mike showed up. Gabby just sighed.

"You'll understand it all when you get to the Academy. They'll teach you all there is to know."

"What's the Academy?" I inquired again.

"It's a school. It's where most of the new angels go to learn our ways," she explained, "They teach your all you need to know, from how to fly to how to tell what rank someone is."

"Okay… that makes sense… I think." Yeah, my poor brain was still trying real hard to catch up. At the rate it was going, though…

"Well, back to business, my job was to find you and bring you back up. I've found you, so all that's left is to—" I cut her off.

"Hold on, go back up where?"

"To the heavens, of course! Where do you think?" At that point, I would've loved to say "Great! Let's go then!" or "Well, what are we waiting for?" but unfortunately, I couldn't just leave. I still had the Prince and Farah to think about. I'd said I was going to stick around and help put things back in order, so just taking off and leaving them dangling with no idea as to where I'd run off to would almost be cruel. Gabby folded her arms. "Why? Don't you want to go?"

"I…" I had to stay… at least long enough to help those two fix this mess. "Sorry, I'd really like to… but…" She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess, you have some kind of obligation with those mortals?" she asked, exasperated. I bit my bottom lip and nodded. She sighed again. "Alright, I see. If you must, then I'll hang around the skies and wait for you to finish whatever business you have with them. But be quick about it, I don't have all the time in the world." I couldn't keep the big, goofy grin off my face as she said this.

"I understand," I said simply, wondering what going through the rest of the game with Princy and Farah would be like.

"From what I gather, the Prince should be near the waterfalls by now. If we hurry, we can catch him. You can fly, can't you?" I glanced quickly at my wings.

"Yeah… just not real well."

"Well, it'll have to do." I watched as she fished a necklace out of her shirt. It was a tiny silver figurine of an angel in a long, flowing gown, her hands clasped together in prayer, and her wings extended out. Gabby held in tightly in her hand and struck the same pose as the figure. A small white aura surrounded her, and a moment later, her wings sprouted from her back and spread out. I was almost jealous. Why? Because they were _beautiful._ They were bigger than mine, and a gorgeous silvery color that shined brilliantly and radiantly in the sun.

Gabby stuffed the necklace back in her shirt and nodded at me, "Let's get going." She gave them a big flap and hauled herself into the air. I did the same, and in a moment, the two of us were soaring through the sky, over the palace and the city, towards the waterfalls.

For whatever reason, I felt that I could trust Gabby. She seemed nice and friendly enough, and she did save me from whatever the hell Mike was trying to do to me. Probably trying to molest me… But she befriended me real quick. Whenever I decided to go with her to this Academy, I think she would most like end up being my only friend. If there were other angels there like me, then it was probably right to expect it to be like a high school, or a college.

About half way there, my wings got tired. Funny thing, too, I didn't even notice until Gabby asked if I needed a rest since I was lagging behind. I guess I was too preoccupied with the sight seeing. Seriously, the place was gorgeous. Everywhere I looked, there was green vegetation, vividly colored flowers, or crystal blue water. Maybe there would've been animals, but they were all infected by the Sands, and likely hiding out, waiting for some innocent yayhoo to come skipping by. All that, and the wind in my hair and the sun at my back was enough to keep me going strong.

Within minutes, we came across a large hole in the ground. Upon closer inspection of it, it was the area after the underground falls with all the ladders and wood platforms.

"The Prince should be in this area, or getting close to it. Good luck to you, Naomi." Before I could respond, she flapped away.

With nowhere else to go, I glided down into the cavern and looked around. I could feel the heavy moister in the air from the falls and I could feel it start to weigh me down. Decided it would be best to land, I looked around, suddenly hearing some commotion below. I couldn't help but grin when I spotted the Prince of the Red Lions swatting mercilessly at a flock of bats down near the bottom.

By the time he'd dispatched them I'd reached him. He didn't notice me at first, until I landed rather loudly behind him. Probably expecting me to be a monster, he drew his sword and rounded on me, ready for battle… then his mouth fell open at the sight of me.

"Naomi!" he exclaimed. I grinned.

"Hey, stud. What's shakin'?" I knew he had no idea what I meant, but smiled anyway and sheathed his sword.

"Where did you go all that time?" he asked, folding his arms. I shrugged.

"Long story." I wondered if I should tell him. I wondered if it would be all right if I told him. What if there was some law against interacting with humans or something? Well, I was already with him… might as well spill it. "Let's get moving and I'll tell you."

When we reached the bottom of the area, I started at the beginning and told him everything there was to tell, since when I ditched him to go investigate to the moment I saw him swatting bats. I told him about Mike, and how he'd chased me down and almost 'converted' me. I told him about gabby and how she'd come to the rescue and I told him everything she told me.

"And that's about this jest of it," I finished as we walked into the well area.

"So that's what all that yelling was," he commented, "I climbed up to see if you were there, but by the time I reached the hole, there was no one to be seen."

"Because Mike took it upon himself to drag me far enough away that I couldn't yell at you for help. Real piece of work, that guy." I shook my head, "But it's over now. Let's just get out of here. All this moister isn't doing my wings much good."

"Right." He looked around. "Those ropes are suspended from metal grates blocking the wells… I'll bet one of them it open. If we can find it and get to it…" He left it at that.

"Looks like that will require some climbing on your part, princy. You up to it?"

"Have I much choice?" With that, I spread my wings and flew up to find a well with a missing grate. That wasn't hard, but it was hard to stay in the air, since all that extra weight from the moister in the air was weighing me down.

"Here it is, over here!" I shouted at the Prince, whom was well on his way over. He had a pretty roundabout way to go, but he found his way over. We even discovered another hidden fountain in the process.

"…You know something, Prince?" I asked as he jumped back over to the rope leading out. While heading to the fountain, something had suddenly stuck in my mind and I almost slapped myself for not thinking of it in the first place.

"What, Naomi?" he responded, getting a good grip on the rope.

"We've been together all this time, and not once, to me or Farah, have you mentioned your name." HA! Now I get to know his name! After three games of anonymous, I get to know his name! I almost feel giddy!

He looked at me for a moment, with a look that almost looked to be panic. …Maybe that wasn't a good idea, after all.

"I... uh…" he stuttered, but then quickly, "My name _is_ Prince!" I raised an eyebrow to let him know I wasn't about to buy that. There was no way his name was Prince. Even if it was, I'd be teasing him about having the same name as the singer.

"You know I'm not about to believe that, Princy." He got that nervous look back.

"Uh… well, it… it's true. My name is Prince." He gave a nervous smile.

"Uh, no, it isn't. I'm pretty certain of that by now, because you're giving me that nervous smile, you're sweating, you didn't look me in the eye when I asked you, and you stuttered. So out with it. What is it really?"

"Fine, fine, prince isn't my name… but I would really rather you didn't know it." He started climbing.

"Why not? What's wrong with it?"

"I just don't like it, alright? Will you please just drop it?" He sounded on the verge of whining.

"Just tell me and I won't have to bug you about it."

"Really, Naomi, I'd rather you call me 'Prince.'"

"Ah, come on! Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"PLEASE?"

"No!"

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!"

"NO!"

"PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR LUMPS ON TOP AND LOTS AND LOTS OF MARSHMELLOWS AND CHOCHOLATE SYRUP EXTRA SPRINKLES AND TWO CHERRIES?!"

"…no." He pulled himself out of the well and leapt onto solid ground just before the thingies holding the rope broke to pieces and fell into the well. I followed.

"Please?" He growled.

"NO!" Just as he finished yelling that, Sand Creatures appeared. Both of us readied our swords.

"Come on, I'll be good! I promise!" I shouted as I jabbed at a fat clubber.

"Just drop it!" he yelled back aggregately, leaping over a solder.

"PLLLLEEEEEEAAASSSSEEEEEE?!?!?!"

"CAN WE PLEASE DO THIS AFTER THE SAND CREATURES ARE DEAD!!!" This whole thing was reminding me of an online fan fic I'd read before I came here. I think it was called 'Dark Dreams.' The point is, in that story, the prince didn't like his name either. But maybe if I pestered him enough, he'd give up the gun and tell me.

"Oh, fine! Have it your way!" …For now. Tee hee.

* * *

Kiri: Another chapter! 

Naomi: Now you've got me curious...

Prince: ...Don't even think about it.

Naomi: Come OOOONNNN!!!

Prince: No.

Farah: As amusing as it is when you to quarrel, I think we should get to the FAQ. Kiri?

Kiri: Righto. FAQ... who want's to do it today?

Prince: I did it last time.

Naomi: I'll do it!

Kiri: Actually, I was thinking of letting Mike do it...

Naomi: HELL NO!

Mike: (snickering)

Q: Who's Gabby, exactly?

A: Gabriella? No one... just an annoying goodie-two-shoes angel who rudly interupted Naomi's initiation.

Naomi: YOU FORCED ME, YOU JERK!

Gabby: She's right! I caught you in the act of turning her against her will! I had to do _something!_

A: Anyway, she'll be back later. But until then...

Naomi: Don't even think it.

A: (scoffs)

Q: so, eh... what all this stuff about an Academy and heavens and whatnot?

A: Well, it's really quite simple. All those goodie-goodie Angels up in the Heavens have what they call the Academy for all the newbies to go to and learn how to be a good little angesl and that if they aren't careful, those big bad meanie renegades will get them! Pah.

Q: What are the renegades, anyway?

A: I would answer that, but the authoress wishes me to keep it a secret for now.

Q: Aw, come on, please?

A: Nope, sorry.

Q: Fine. So... what's the prince's name?

A: Wouldn't you like to know.

Naomi: He's too busy being a mystery man...

Prince: That's right! I'm the mystery man! No one knows my name but me!

Kiri: And me.

Prince: ...and you... (grumble, grumble)

Farah: What's so horrible about it, anyway?"

Prince: You have no idea...

Kiri: Oh, he's just being a baby. I happen to like it.

Naomi: Great! So you'll tell us what it is?

Prince: NO!

Kiri: Nope, sorry. that's for me to know and you to find out. and Prince, at least be thankful that I even _gave_ you a name in the first place!

(Flashback)

Kiri: Hey, prince! Guess what? You get a name in this fic!

Prince: A name?! A NAME! I get a name! (tears of joy)

(End Flashback)

Prince: ...I had no idea what name you were gonna give me then!

Kiri: Deal with it. Anyways, one final note. Yes, I made a reference to Rhea's _Dark Dreams_ story. Those who haven't read it really need to. It's awsome! I'm using her reason why the prince keeps his name all secret. I couldn't help it, I HAD to use it. It was just too funny. But anyways, so ends another chappy. Read and Reveiw and all that stuff and I'll see y'all next chapter!


	10. Pookie

Chapter 10

"Farah!" the Prince called half-heartedly after the two of us got past all the traps and through the closing door. "Farah, are you there?"

"Hello?" Farah called back in almost the same tone. "Hello?"

"Here I am!"

"Where are you at?" I added.

"I'm here!" she answered.

"Where's here?"

"Here!"

"Just stay where you are!" the Prince called, "We'll find our way to you!" The two of us started descending down the stairs.

"'We?'" I asked, eyeing him. He eyed me right back.

"Yes, 'We.'" At that moment, I grinned very broadly.

"That means… you accept me as part of the team!" I squealed, "I FEEL SO LOVED!" I latched onto him, which took him completely by surprise. He stumbled back a bit and guess what? Sand monsters appeared! Don't these guys EVER freaking stop? Guess not… Gee, doesn't that remind me of a certain someone whom I loathe…

"Uh, Naomi, DO YOU WANT TO LET GO OF ME NOW?" the prince bellowed as the sands Creatures approached us.

"…No, not really."

"ARG!" He quickly drew his sword.

"Oh, fine…" I let go of him and drew my own sword. "But I still want to know what your name is!"

"WOULD YOU DROP IT ALREADY?"

"No!" I heard him growl in frustration, but we continued fighting.

After the battle, we healed, then hurried to wherever Farah was. Prince had to smash through a lot of walls to get to the lever to open the door to get to her, but we got there… only to get involved in another battle. This one took bloody forever, and I'm almost certain that the Prince had to use more than a few sand tanks for all of us. But when it was finally over, no one really said anything, and the Prince almost automatically stepped into the sand vortex.

Once again, I grinned and stifled a giggle when it kicked him out, but Farah… I dunno, she just seemed to stare at him blankly. That's when I remembered. This was about where the two of them started falling for each other. That thought only made me grin more. When I first played this game back home, I knew from the start that those two would get romantic in some way, and when I saw Fthe scene where farah was stroking his hair and saying "My love, please don't leave me." I damn near jumped around the room screaming "I KNEW IT! I BLOODY FLIPPIN' KNEW IT!" Well, I was all for a romance between those two. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if I helped in along a bit.

"He's cute, yeah?" I said nudging the Princess in the ribs a little with my elbow. She only sighed. "Come on," I encouraged, "you gotta admit he's sexy." She looked at me, slightly puzzled by my use of slang.

"I'm sorry?" I simply shrugged.

"Alright, plain and simple… He's handsome. And in my humble opinion, you two might make a good pair." She looked down at the Prince's unconscious form. "I mean, he's a prince… you're a princess…" I cleared my throat. "Well, anyways, I think I'll go scout up ahead and see what dangers lurk around the next corner. Keep an eye on him, yeah?" Without another word, I walked around the fences, then used my wings to my advantage and flew silently to a place where I could watch. Yep, the Great Naomi Fox: Angel, Matchmaker and Super spy! This was gonna be great!

Just as I remembered, Farah looked around, then went to the Prince's side and knelt by him. She carefully lifted his head into her lap, her black eyes full of concern and she gently stroked his hair from his face. A huge, goofy grin spread across my face as she started whispering that oh-so-familiar phrase: "My love… please don't leave me…"

Unfortunately for her, the prince suddenly awoke in her lap. He looked up at her strangely and asked, "What did you call me?" Startled, she suddenly stood up, his head almost hitting the ground again.

"It doesn't matter," she replied, relaxing, "The important thing is, I know how we can reach the Tower of Dawn." She walked a few steps as the Prince got to his feet.

"Yes, the Hourglass…" he muttered in agreement, but then his voice became irritated. "All right, but this time, stay with me. I can't spend all day chasing after you." He turned and started away. Farah just looked at him with a small scowl before following. "Where's Naomi?" he questioned after a moment. Uh oh, time to move and make it look like I wasn't spying!

"She said something about scouting ahead," Farah answered.

"Oh, just perfect. That foolish girl is probably in trouble again!" I quickly jumped down from my peach.

"I resent that!" I shouted irritably. I walked around the corner to make it seem as though I had been by the gate the whole time. The only problem was that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop smiling.

"There you are," Farah announced.

"Yup… there's a gate in the way."

"… Why are you grinning like that?" the prince questioned suspiciously. Uh oh.

"Oh, nothing… nothing at all," I replied, trying to act mysterious, "I was just thinking about something stupid…"

"You seem to do that often."

"Yes, I know. In the mind of a teenager, nothing is as it seems." I waltzed confidently right past him and looked at the big statue against the wall. "There's a hole here. Prince, help me move it and Farah and get in there and step on that switch." I knew he was still suspicious of me, but said nothing and we both pulled the statue out of the way. The only thing was that Farah didn't move.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" the Prince asked in that annoyed tone of his.

"I'm afraid. What if I get into trouble and you have to come chasing after me?" Farah answered, almost sarcastically. I smirked.

"Oh, please…" the Prince muttered under his breath.

"Do you mean to say that you actually need my help?" Farah asked. I knew exactly what she was getting at.

"Yesss…" the Prince hissed. The Indian Princess smiled cheerfully.

"Alright then, in that case," she walked over and crawled through the crack and stood on the pressure plate. The Prince said nothing and walked past me.

"I'm afraid! What if I get into trouble?" he mocked as he got outside. I followed him.

"Now, prince, be nice," I teased, smiling tauntingly at him. He glared at me.

"And you, stop grinning!"

I stood by the gate as the prince turned the rotating handle thingy. It clicked into place and the gate opened, revealing Farah.

"There you are," Farah said happily as the prince joined us, "are you sure I'm not slowing you down?" He sighed in frustration.

"Alright, alright…" he said through tight teeth. I was already ahead of them. I was rather anxious to get moving… Why? Because up next was one of my favorite levels: the Hall of Learning!

"LOOK AT ALL THE BOOKS!" I exclaimed giddily as I burst into the large room. I immediately took to the air and flew around, completely awed by all the books that were there.

"The Hall of Learning," Farah stated simply, also looking around. Princy just watched me and sighed, shaking his head. I know, he was wondering just how in the world he ever got stuck with a bumbling, giddy person like myself. Well, he was just gonna have to deal with it.

"BOOOOOOKKKSSSSSS!" I squealed again, then landed on the highest level, grabbed a book off a shelf and started reading it, completely forgetting that there were Sand monsters in that area… I read about a page of the book in my hands, then shoved it back in and grabbed another and did the same until I'd read a page from about twelve different books on that book case.

And pretty soon, I was zooming around the room, grabbing books, reading a few lines from each and as I ricocheted from one book case to another, I was shouting "GOTTA READ 'EM ALL! GOTTA READ 'EM ALL!" Who knows how long I did that… But hey, I did have a passion for reading.

"Naomi… What on earth are you doing?" the prince shouted up at me after the fight.

"GOTTA READ 'EM AALL, THE HALL OF LEARNING!" I sang out loudly to the tune of the Pokemon Rap song.

"Excuse my ignorance, but would you mind translating that into a language that we can all understand?" he yelled impatiently.

"!"

"Naomi Fox, could you at least try to make sense?"

"BOOOOOOOOOOKSSSSSSSSSSS! OMIGOSH, LOOKIT, PRINCE! BOOOOKSSSS! LETS LIVE HERE!"

"I guess she is a big fan of reading," Farah shrugged.

"Evidently…" the Prince grumbled, watching me buzz back and forth. My two comrades started looking for a way to open the next gate. The poor Prince was just finishing moving the mirror that blocked the crack in the wall on the far side on the room, when I suddenly squealed, closed the book in my hands, held it tightly and zipped down at lightening speed, and tackled him.

"OMIGOSH, PRINCY, I FOUND IT! I FOUND THE PERFECT BOOK! SEE?" I shoved it in his face. Yeah… I'm a big reading enthusiast. You think this is bad, you should've seen when my mom used to take me to bookstores, or to the library. Things would get hectic. Matter of fact, one library asked us to not come back… I don't know why they would want to ban an avid reader like myself… it was only one small book case I knocked over… or two… and crushed an old man… no big deal… right?

"Yeah… great…" the Prince coughed, pushing it out of his face.

"So… can we keep it? Pleeeeeeease can we keep it?" I hugged the book tightly to my chest and gave my best puppy dog eyes.

"What?"

"Pleasey weasy? Can we keeeeep iiiiit? Come oooooon, pleeeeeeese?" I made a whining sound and stuck out my bottom lip at him.

"…yeah, sure… get off of me…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I squealed again, and hugged him so tight I almost suffocated him. "!"

"As amusing as this is, Naomi, his face is turning red. I think you should let go now," Farah interrupted.

"Oh…" I realized that she was right and let him go and he flopped on the ground with a huge sigh, "Sorry." I leapt off of him and hugged my new book to my chest.

"Well, I gots a new book!" I proclaimed cheerfully, "I shall name him… Pookie!" Farah stared at me.

"Pookie," she repeated emotionlessly.

"Pookie!" I grinned.

"Uh… great… well, why don't you go read Pookie why the Prince and I find a way out of here?" she suggested.

"OKAY!" then I quickly darted off to find a nice, cozy place to read my new book.

* * *

Kiri: ok, that chapter was a little crazy...

Naomi: no freaking kidding! look at all the yelling I did!

Farah: ...Pookie...

Kiri: What's wrong with Pookie? I named my yearbook Pookie!

Naomi: ...you're serious.

Kiri: Yes! It even says so on the inside front cover! 'Hello, my name is Pookie!'

Naomi: ...ok, that's really weird.

Kiri: So what! My yearbook! My own! My precious!

Prince: ...ok, while Smeagol over here does whatever it is she's doing over in that dark corner, who is doing the FAQ today?

Mike: I did it last time...

Naomi: I wanna do it!

Farah: I haven't done it yet...

Gabby: Niether have I.

Naomi: ME, damn it, ME! Me!

Prince: I've done it already, so...

Kiri: (hiss) THE PRECIOUS IS MINE!

All: ...O.o

Prince: Naomi, you do it.

Naomi: THANK YOU!

Q: so... is this gonna be a Prince/Farah or a Prince/OC?

A: Convenient question, cuz I just asked Kiri thank a little while ago. She said that it was a secret.

Q: Can't you just torture it out of her?

A: Are you kidding me? She has complete control of my life! If I piss her off, she'll definately get revenge!

Q: So we have to wait to find out...

A: Afraid so.

Q: Fine. Will Naomi ever discover the Prince's real name?

A: Well, I'm certainly hoping so!

Prince: NO! No one must know!

Q: ...what is his name?

Prince: It's-HEY! Trick question!

Q: What's with this obession with books that Naomi has?

A: I just like to read books, alright? Is that so wrong that I get a little hyper when I'm in a room with hundereds and thousands of books all around me?

Q: It's damn freaky, actually...

A: oh, leave me alone!

Q: Heheh. so, um... Pookie?

A: ... don't ask.

Prince: Well, I think that'senough for today... we really need to coax Kiri out of that corner... I think she's starting to lose it...

Kiri: It's mines... the precious is all mines...

Naomi: Eh, leave her. She'll snap out of it.

Prince: are you sure...?

Naomi: Alright, we'll give it ten minutes, then go over there and wrestle that year book away.

Prince: Got it. Until next time, read and reveiw and all that stuff! Reveiws make Kiri a very happy authoress, and happy authoress' produce good chapters! So until the next chapter!


	11. Observatory Figures

Chapter 11

For most of the time we were in the Hall of Learning, I was in the corner on one of the higher levels with my face practically duct taped to 'Pookie.' I was surprised when I was calm enough to realize that most of the books were in English. I mean, this was ancient Persia, right? Most people don't even know how to read and write their own language, let alone in English! Maybe it was because the game itself was programmed in English… Well, whatever the reason, I could read to my hearts content.

I was just getting to a good part when I heard a smashing sound on the other end of the room.

"Naomi! Fountain!" the Prince called over to me. He sounded like he didn't expect me to respond, or even hear him for that matter and who can blame him? After the fiasco I'd just displayed? Time to surprise him.

"…I'm coming," I answered in a slightly melancholy tone. I marked my page and set Pookie down and flew over to join up with him.

"…Are you all right?" he asked me when he noticed me being oddly quiet. I just sighed and nodded. In truth, I was thinking about the bad times. Books did that to me sometimes. From the look he was giving me, I could tell he was a little skeptic of my response. Honestly, I really didn't need or want him poking around in my business. He was my friend, but I didn't trust him that much. So, until we know each other a little better, if we ever know each other better, my past is not his concern.

In a quick attempt to lighten the mood and get him to forget about my mood, I turned, gave him a small shove and took off running for the fountain.

"LAST ONE THERE'S A SMELLY OLD SHOE!" I yelled when I already had several yards of distance over him. He just stood there a moment, staring blankly, until his brain caught up with him and he registered what I'd said.

"Oh, that's how it's going to be, is it?" he said, smirking and took off running after me. Needless to say, he was in much better shape that me, and a much faster runner, so it didn't take long for him to catch up to me. I tried to take to the air, but the prince grabbed my ankle and pulled me back down. "Cheater!" he exclaimed. That was when a particularly evil thought came to mind.

"Excuse me?" I said, trying to sound offended. I landed on the ground, my hands on my hips. "How dare you imply that I have to cheat in order to win!" he just looked at me, probably wondering if I was serious or joking. "I am not so pathetic that I have to resort to lowering my self to the level of a common thief! I demand that you take that back!" I glowered and he stepped back and started to apologize. But I had him right where I wanted him. The moment his eyes went to the ground, I bolted away again towards the fountain. I was already at the middle of the bridge when he realized what I'd done and took off after me.

"That's cheating, Naomi!" he shouted.

"And you fell right for it!" I yelled back, laughing. Again, he quickly caught up to me. I was almost at the fountain, and I was about to win, but the Prince suddenly tackled me, pinning me on the ground and scrambling to get to it first. Like hell I was about to let that happen, though. I grabbed a handful of his tunic and hauled myself onto his back, trying to climb over him and I strained my arm towards the fountain. In the process, I shoved his head into the ground so now he was smashed between the ground and my stomach. With that advantage, I was able to grab the base of the fountain first.

"I win! You're a smelly old shoe!" I teased him as I stood up.

"You cheated!" he retorted, also standing up and smoothing out his hair that had gotten messed up in our race.

"Yeah, and?"

"That easily disqualifies you!"

"Nu uh."

"Yes it does!

"No it doesn't!" I sang mockingly, grinning at his look of annoyance. "Besides, Mr. Dagger-of-Time, all you had to do that whole time was rewind and you would've had the advantage over me!"

"I _did_ rewind!" he exclaimed, but then realized what he'd said and backed off, smiling nervously at me. I raised an eyebrow.

"And you say that _I'm_ the cheater," I said simply, folding my arms. "Alright, fine. We're both guilty, so we'll call it a draw. Fair enough?"

"Fine." He looked relieved. The two of us drank from the fountain and reappeared outside. It seemed as though the Prince had forgotten about my small mood swing, so that was good. While he started with the mirrors again, I flew back to where I left Pookie and started reading again. Unfortunately, I only got through a page before I started wondering if reading anymore would have that 'sad' effect on me again… I really didn't want the Prince of Farah noticing and asking questions. Well… sorry, Pookie.

I reluctantly placed my book on the shelf next to me. I was almost sad to say good bye to it… but if it kept everyone out of my business, then a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I quickly flew to meet the Prince.

"Listen to this! 'Of what use is reason against the power of love? Love is life. So if you want to live, die in love. Die in love if you want to stay alive,'" Farah recited from the book she was holding. Not bad poetry, even if it didn't make sense.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" the Prince asked irritably, rolling his eyes.

"I thought you'd like it," Farah snapped in a similar tone of voice.

"If you want to be useful, try finding a book that will tell us how to get out of here!"

"This isn't that kind of game!"

"Game?" the Prince looked at me and I responded with a simple shrug. "She thinks this is a game!" I was almost tempted to inform him that this _was_ a game, but after a little thought, I decided that it might not be such a wonderful idea. I mean, what am I gonna say? "Well, Princy, I'll have you know that all of this is just a game where I come from. See, us on the outside control you on the inside and make you do our bidding for our own entertainment. Sorry about all the screw ups and whatnot… no hard feelings?" Yeah, at that point he would most likely chop my head off and display it on a pike, then burry my body and dance on my grave.

He eventually got the lower gate open. I remember what was in there, too. The number three sword, and my second favorite. This time, though, I zipped down there before he could even start climbing down and snatched the sword. Then I ran out and waved it over my head like an idiot.

"Prince! Looky! Looky! A sword! It's bigger! And longer!" I cried, "Ooohhh… it's SHINIER!" I stabbed the tip on the ground and leaned on it slightly. "Hey, I have an idea, since I'm so weak and powerless and whatnot, how about I keep this sword? Huh? Whadaya say?" I looked hopefully at him as he came over to me. Sadly, though, he took the sword from me and put his other one in my hand.

"Sorry, no." He sheathed the new one and walked into the room I had just come out of to pull the switch to the other door in the room. I just stared at the smaller blade in my hand, then took the other one, the prince's very first sword, out. I almost tossed it over my shoulder, figuring it would be useless beyond this point, until I got it in my head that I could have double swords now. They may not be perfectly balanced, but hey, it's a sword!

With some luck, we all made it out of the library and continued down the hall to the Observatory. And wouldn't you know, there was a nice fresh batch of Sand Creatures there to test my blades on! You know, I've noticed something else. Normally, I would be screaming my head off at every little thing, every sand monster, or bat or whatever and run and hide. Now, I'd rather be on the battlefield, doing _something_ to make myself even a tiny bit useful. I'd probably never be as good a swordsman as the Prince, or as good an archer as Farah, but at least I was helping out in some small way. Maybe it's that Angel blood.

Anyways, the Prince and I (mostly the Prince) made quick work of the sand beasties. I couldn't help but smile at the look the Prince gave me when he saw me 'sheath' my swords.

"Don't you have a proper place to put those?" he questioned, pointing at the hilt sticking out of my pant leg.

"If I did, do you think I'd still have them where they are?" I answered back indifferently. He only shook his head and looked up towards the set of stairs on the platform in the center of the room.

"There should be a way to make that go up," he stated, "look for a lever." We all started towards the balcony with the Sand vortex.

"What makes you think—" Farah began, but then decided not to waste her time arguing with him, "Never mind." She ran ahead of us and slid through the crack in the wall at the far end. "I found a lever!" she announced to us, "Shall I pull it?"

"Not yet!" the Prince shouted quickly, "Wait til we're on the platform!" I poked him in the ribs.

"We? Right, Prince. I'll meet you up there." I spread my wings and flew up to the above lever while Princy ran around to get on the platform. Another thing I've noticed. My wings have been getting strong. Either it's all the flying I've been doing lately, or the water from that fountain, or both. Whichever, my wings have been slowly gaining endurance.

While I waited for the Prince, I stood there with my hands behind my back, looking around. Soon, my eyes drifted to the ceiling. I had never really noticed before, but the roof of the Observatory was absolutely beautiful! The dome was completely black with green and blue figures mapping out the Persian night sky. It awed me at first, mainly because there were so many. I began looking at each one individually, examining it's shape, wondering what it symbolized, and then my eyes stumbled onto one in particular that caught my attention.

I wasn't sure what it was at first, but as I examined it closer and flipped the image this way and that in my brain, I realized that it was the figure of an angel. It looked almost identical to the necklace that Gabby had, except, her arms were over her head, holding what looked like a sword, rather than folded in prayer. Beneath her was what looked like some kind of monster. I wasn't sure, but it was a huge hulking thing that looked like it was chained to something.

Well, whatever it was, I didn't have much time to contemplate what it had to do with the meaning of life, since the Prince had jumped over to where I was and tapped my shoulder.

"What are you looking at?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing…" I answered, tilting my head a little. "Prince, what does that figure there symbolize?"

"What figure?" I pointed it out to him.

"That one. Any idea?" He shook his head.

"No, I was never really interested in this sort of thing. But I know some scholars back in Babylon that might know." I nodded once. When we fixed this whole mess, I would definitely have to ask someone what that meant, provided I remembered.

* * *

Kiri: WHERE'D ALL MY REVEIWERS GO?

Naomi: that's a good point, actually...there's nearly three hundered veiws, but only sixteen reveiws, and no reveiws for the last chapter...

Kiri: Come on, peoples! I know there's more of you all out there! What do I bloody have to do to get you guys to reveiw?

Mike: Here's an idea. Stop writting crap chapters.

Kiri: But... but...WAAAHHH!

Naomi: Nice one, Mike, you made her cry.

Mike: ugh... let's just do the FAQ. Gabby, you know everything, you do it.

Gabby: oh, fine.

Q: Is that sob story really important?

A: Sort of. The authoress decided that Naomi needed to have a little drama in her life that wasn't rediculous. and she needed something to fill space.

Q: So, I take it that Naomi and the Prince are getting closer?

A: It would definately seem that way.

Q: ...are they going to fall for each other?

A: Well, the authoress hasn't told us much about that. She's keeping it a complete secret from everyone. She's a hopeless romantic, but she also likes to conserve couples... it may or may not happen at this point.

Q: What's up with the Observatory?

A: Ah, that particular part, I happen to know it important to the over all plot of the story. Make sure you remember that.

Q: Well, what is it?

A: I'm not telling.

Q: please?

A: no.

Q: Fine then. Is the prince's name going to be revealed?

Prince: WILL EVERYONE PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE ABOUT THAT ALREADY?

A: again, another secret the authoress is keeping from us. But if I know one thing, she can't hold something like that behind her back for long. We'll know his name soon enough.

Mike: Will someone get that woman to stop crying already?

Kiri: WHY DOESN'T ANYONE LOVE ME? WAAHHH!

Naomi: uhg. Well, while we try to shut her up about her lack of reveiws, all you guys outthere make sure YOU DO REVEIW THIS TIME! No reveiws make her cry, and it's _very_ annoying to the rest of us!

Mike: though it's not much better when she isn't crying, I also have to say that the lack of reveiws is disappointing. I mean, three hundered veiws, but only sixteen reveiws? Three hundered... sixteen... THREE HUNDERED... SIXTEEN... I KNOW MY MATH IS NOT THAT HORRIBLE! so reveiw so Kiri can get me back in the story ASAP.


	12. The Trapped Corridors

Chapter 12

"Look a crack!" Farah chirped as we exited the Observatory.

"Wait!" the Prince stopped her, "Let's see where this corridor goes." I smiled. I knew where it lead, alright. That is, after all the deadly traps. The prince walked to the corner, and to his surprise, traps sprung to life. He didn't even need to look twice to know that Farah had no chance of getting through this way. "Ok, you can take the crack." Farah, however, was several steps ahead of him and was already slipping her skinny frame into the crack. A moment later, she emerged at the balcony at the far end of the hall.

"I'm up here!" she called to us.

"Try pulling that lever!" the Prince called. She did, and it opened the gate at the other side. I gave my wings a good hard flap and lightly punched the Prince in the shoulder.

"Meet you there." I winked and easily flew right over the traps. Once we were both at the end of the hall, we turned the corner and stopped, seeing Farah at one end of a collapsed balcony.

"Do you think I can jump it?" she called to us.

"Well, normally, I wouldn't chance it, but since this is a special case, then what the hell!" I answered.

"Go ahead and try!" the Prince agreed, "What's the worst that can happen?"

"She falls and kills herself," I replied cheerfully. He just glared at me. "What? Only answering your question!" But Farah didn't fall and kill herself. She leapt through the air and landed safely on the other side.

"There you go!" the Prince said, sounding relieved. After that, we went through another hallway, and then we came to another one. Princy quickly pulled the switch there. "We'll meet you on the other side of that gate!" he called to Farah.

"Be careful!"

"You be careful!"

I simply flew to the other side. The Prince had some difficulty, considering that one false step and he would be cut clean in three pieces by those huge knives, but he got through. Once out, we found ourselves in another courtyard. There were more monsters there. The Prince, of course, quickly pulled out his sword and the dagger, and I started to take out my own, when something caught my eye. I quickly looked…

Black wings. Mike was here.

I felt that familiar wave or terror rise in my chest as I stared at him. I couldn't make out ever feature, since he was way up on a high rooftop, but I knew he was watching me, his arms folded, that taunting smirk of his on his face.

"Naomi!" the Prince suddenly shouted, snapping me back to reality. "Behind you!" I whipped around just in time to see the Prince ram into one of the sand creatures that had come up behind me, ready to take me out while I was distracted. I just stood there and blinked as he took the soldier down and absorbed his sand into the dagger. "Be more careful!" he barked at me. I would've said something right back to him, but I remembered Mike. I whirled around again, expecting him to still be there… he was gone.

I knew why he was there. He was giving me a message. He was telling me that he was there, watching me. He saw every move I made, and was waiting in silence for the right moment to get another crack at converting me. He wanted me to know. He wanted me to know exactly what he was doing to that I would feel vulnerable and start looking over my shoulder at every turn. He wanted me to know that he was waiting for me to take one wrong step so he could strike. He was trying to intimidate me. And by far, it was working.

The whole rest of the time, I felt exposed. With the knowledge that Mike was around, I couldn't help but be overly aware of my surroundings. With the adrenaline rush, though, the battle went smoothly, and while the prince started climbing to find a way to open the gate so Farah could get through, I made quick work of the birds that were perched there so he wouldn't have to deal with them.

"What are you doing?" Farah cried from her position behind the gate, after watching the Prince do a few jumps and whatnot.

"I don't know!" he answered her, trying to keep his balance on the beam he was standing on, "I'm making this up as I go!"

"Well, can you make it up a little faster? I'd like to get out of the open as soon as possible," I encouraged, trying to keep the nervous shake out of my voice. It figures it didn't work, because the Prince still heard it.

"Why? What's wrong?" he asked just before he leapt from the beam to the balcony.

"Eh… uh… nothing…" I tried, compulsively looking around again. He folded his arms and gave me an 'I-know-that-you're-lying-so-why-don't-you-just-shut-up-and-tell-me-the-truth-already' look.

"You're a horrible liar, Naomi. Do you realize that?" I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Nothing… I just…" I came a bit closer to him. "Mike." He looked at me, then nodded in understanding.

"Very well." Yeah, so far, that guy had me scared shitless. The whole way, I was almost on top of the Prince, silently encouraging him to hurry up so I could get my butt inside and not feel like a canary at a cat adoption shelter.

The second the gate opened, I was in there faster than anyone could say 'Prince wears a dress.' I hunched against the wall and waited as patiently as I could for the others to catch up, and when they did, I was the first one to zip down the hall.

"What's gotten in to her?" I heard Farah asked.

"I don't know. I suppose she's just anxious to get there," the Prince answered. At that point, I almost turned back and hug tackled him. He was keeping it all a secret! And for me, nonetheless! The big lug… That definitely constituted a big ol' hug later on, or maybe even a kiss on the cheek. I'll just put that on my 'to-do' list right after 'figure out what the hell all this Angel business is' and 'stop old geezer from taking over the world.'

"Look! That's the bridge to the Tower of Dawn!" Farah exclaimed, pointing. The only problem was, to get there, fighting Sand creatures was involved.

"Yeah, but you see that?" I interrupted, pointing across the gap and the oblivious monsters. "These guys are everywhere anymore! Isn't there a faster way to get rid of them? Doesn't anyone have a machine gun around here?"

"A what?"

"Never mind," I sighed, "Let's go, Prince." The two of us jumped across the gap. Farah loaded her bow as we drew our swords. The battle was tougher this time around, mostly because we had very limited space to fight. I was getting better at fighting. Unlike my first battle, when all I did was run around, screaming, waving my weapon around like it was on fire. No, now I was actually facing the enemy, haphazardly dodging blows and landing some of my own. I still sucked, but I guess all that watching the Prince were paying off somewhat. That's something, at least.

After the battle, the three of us leapt the gaps in the bridge and headed for the close gate, which was opened just slightly by rubble. Farah slid under it easily.

"I'll see if I can find a way down!" she told us. Now was my chance. I nudged the Prince in the side.

"Hey, thanks," I said, keeping my voice low.

"For what?" he asked.

"Not telling Farah about… you know."

"Oh, that. I figured you would want to keep it quiet."

"Well, I think it was very considerate of you."

"You're welcome."

"I can't find a switch!" Farah shouted at us, "but there's another gate on the other side!" I groaned.

"Alright, stay there. We'll climb around," the prince answered. He leaped off the side of the bridge and grabbed hold of a bar there and swung up to the beam. From there, he shimmied around, walked out to the other beam and jumped to the other bridge. I just flew over.

"There's a staircase!" Farah pointed out when we were on solid ground, "I'll meet you two in the courtyard down below!" With that, she hurried to the stairs.

"Be careful on the stairs!" the Prince called after her. He looked at me. "Let's get going."

"Righto." Not in the mood to walk, I took to the air and started to fly across.

"Hey, wait!" the prince called after me, running across the bridge. He would've caught up to me and we would've continued on… except I'd completely forgotten where we were. We were already eighty percent of the way through the game.

The bridge started crumbling and broke right under the prince's feet. Unfortunately, he saw it too late. He started to turn and jumped in an attempt to grab the edge, but missed and started plummeting down into the prison.

"Prince!" I shrieked and dive-bombed in for the rescue. I was almost certain that I would miss and he'd fall, but by some miracle, my fingers gripped his wrist. "I've got you!" I yelled, my wings straining against the sudden addition of weight. It was hopeless. I could hardly keep myself in the air for very long… how in the world could I expect to stay in the air with him hanging onto me?

"The ledge!" he exclaimed, sounding panicked, "get to the ledge!" I struggled in the air, trying my hardest to move in any direction except down, but his weight was fast becoming overwhelming.

"I can't! You're too heavy!" I cried desperately, praying to whoever would listen for help.

"Try!"

"I can't hold you! The weight! It's too much!"

"Naomi!" I could feel myself slipping. My grip on his arm was tight, but my wings were already screaming for rest. With my last bit of energy, I flapped them as hard as I could towards the edge of the broken bridge. I didn't get far, though, and my energy quickly drained. I couldn't stand anymore. He was going to fall, regardless, and I could either let go and save myself, or try to save him to the very end of my strength. I only had a split second to decide… and I choose the latter.

Unable to hold up any longer, my wings give up the gun. We fell. Together, we plummeted down… down… down… then we hit ground. Somehow, the prince managed to stay conscious until that large rock slapped him on the back, but as for me, well, I blacked out almost immediately.

* * *

Kiri: Holy crap, peoples! You all aren't going to beleive what happened over the past two days! 

Naomi: I'm tired! Can't we just go home now?

Kiri: No, we still haven't finished the last chapter yet!

Naomi: Whhhyyy?

Kiri: anyways, I'm almost completely done with this first part of the story. Al I need to do is fine tune them and finished the last battle and it's all done!

Prince: Then can we take a break?

Kiri: No.

Naomi: Aw come on, Kiri! We're all exhausted! You've worked us totally ragged! Give us a rest already!

Kiri: Ugh. Fine, if y'all are gonna whine about it...

Naomi: Thank you!

Kiri: Anyways, who wants to do the FAQ this time?

All: (prolonged groans)

Kiri: (rolls eyes) oh fine. I'll do it. lazy peepes...

Q: Ok, Mike is starting to become freaking scary.

A: I know. He's just being a jerk at this point, trying to scare the crap out of Naomi.

Naomi: And so far, IT'S WORKING!

Mike: aw, you know you love it.

Naomi: ...get away from me.

Q: Er... 'Prince wears a dress'?

Prince: I DO NOT!

A: ok, no, he doesn't, but that would be comedy GOLD if he did.

Naomi: ... not a bad idea... (eyes Prince)

Prince: DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

Naomi: (snickering)

Q: Naomi and the Prince seem to be getting closer...

A: That doesn't tell anything! It could just be close friendship! Ha ha!

Naomi: I with you would just spil it... I'm tired of all the secrets.

Kiri: Well, I'm not! So there! Ha! But on another note... THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVEIWS!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS! (cries)

Mike: Ugh... the crying... well, here's my note to them. MAKE SURE YOU ALL FREAKING REVIEW! IT TOOK US FOREVER TO SHUT HER UP THE LAST TIME! MY EARS ARE STILL RINGING FROM THAT!

Kiri: oh, it wasn't that bad...and don't be so mean... you'll scare them away...

Mike: Whatever.

Kiri: but I agree. Reviews make me happy and inspire me to write more! Even if they're just one line of 'update soon' it still makes me happy! so, until the next chappy!


	13. The Prison

Chapter 13

My entire body felt numb. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see, I couldn't move… I was glad of it at the moment, since I was almost certain I would feel miserable when my brain came back online.

It was only a moment later when my hearing started coming back to me. The reason I knew was because I could hear someone calling my name.

"Naomi…" it said softly. Whoever it was sounded tired. "Naomi, wake up." I tried to respond, but my tongue refused to work properly. Another moment later, I started to feel my body again. All over I could feel a dull ache, but it was most prominent in my back where I'd landed and taken the full force of the fall. "Come on, wake up!" I groaned as I slowly slipped back into full consciousness.

"Five more minutes…"

"There's no time. Come on."

"Four…" I felt a hand on my cheek, and a thumb make a slow sweeping motion across the corner on my mouth. It was then that I noticed that I could vaguely taste blood. I could feel my head start to throb, making me a thousand promises of the headache that was to come. But despite that, I opened my eyes.

Everything was double and wherever there was a dark spot, there were stars. But the first thing I saw was the Prince looming over me, concern in his eyes, fatigue on his face.

"Uhg… Prince…?"

"Are you all right?" he asked me, some of that concern being replaced with relief.

"Ugh… I didn't know you… had a twin…" He rolled his eyes.

"It seems you're well enough to make jokes at least. How are you feeling?"

"Like whale barf. You?"

"Not much better, but I'm all right." I gather what strength I could and tried to sit up. I hadn't noticed that the Prince had been holding me, but he inched back as I tried to get my body in working order again. But as soon as I was upright, I wished I had just stayed down. That headache I'd been promised came flying in like a bat out of hell. The pain hit me so hard I almost fell back over. I didn't, but I was suddenly dizzy. Everything started to spin, and became just a big blob of color. That dizziness quickly took its toll on my poor stomach and seconds later I scrambled to the edge, threw my head over and threw up.

Since there was basically nothing in my stomach to puke, it emptied quickly and I fell back on the ground, ready to die. The Prince, now shirtless, came back over to me.

"Can you walk?" he asked gently. I only made a pathetic groaning noise.

"Someone _shoot_ me!" I cried, "Put me outta my misery!" The Prince carefully brushed my hair out of my face.

"Naomi, if we're going to get out of here, we'll need to work together. Are you up for it?" he asked, more firmly this time. I groaned.

"Where are we?"

"A prison, by the looks of it." The prison level. I think this one was one of the more annoying ones. But the Prince was right. If we both wanted to get out, we'd need each other. Slowly, I turned on my stomach and looked up at him. He answered my small plea for assistance. He came over, turned and knelt down so I could climb on his back. I did, and he stood up. I made sure I wasn't choking him and he started down.

At the base of the first ladder, he stopped.

"Naomi, with your extra weight, I won't be able to go very far," he explained, "Do you think you might be able to get enough airlift to fix that?" I wearily looked over my shoulder and tried my wings out. There were tired, and ached when I moved them. Obviously, they were pissed off at me for making them keep the Prince and I airborne as long as I did. But they moved.

"I can try to, but I make no promises."

"Good enough." With me on his back, he started a wall run. I spread my wings, however painful it was, and tried to get some airlift, just enough so the Prince could get us both across safely. To my surprise, it worked. We did that the whole way down, the prince taking it as slow as he could, probably knowing that my wings were aching. It got tricky when we had to start swinging on poles to get down, but we made it.

"There's Sand Creatures down there," the Prince told me, "up for a fight?"

"Not really…" I grumbled, "but if I must, I must…" With that, he slid down the ladder. Once his feet hit solid ground, I jumped off and we both drew out weapons as the beasts realized our presence. The first one over was one of the weaklings, which the Prince made quick work of. More of them converged on us. Though I was tired, I focused more on the littler ones while the Prince took on the big guys. Lucky for me, the small ones were the weakest of the entire Sand Monster Family Tree, so I had little trouble. The Prince didn't seem to be having a difficult time, either with the big guys with the hammers. The only real trouble was that there was only one dagger, and some of those damn things would just get right back up if the Prince couldn't get to them quick enough.

Annoyances aside, we got through that batch and started looking for a way out. Or at least, the Prince did. As for me, I hit the floor again and nearly threw up all over the ground. No, scratch that, I _did_ throw up all over the ground. But what the freak was I puking?! I hadn't eaten anything for days now!

"There's vomit in your hair," the Prince informed me when I looked up at him wearily. "And on your shirt." He looked pointedly over at the far corner of the room. "There's a fountain of water over there. Go clean up while I look for a way out."

"Well, aren't you helpful…" I muttered, crawling to my feet. I had to use the side rail to keep myself from falling on the floor again and dragged myself when I had nothing to support me.

I hauled myself up to the fountains edge and stared grumpily at my reflection. The Prince hadn't been lying… there was vomit in my hair, and on the collar of my shirt. The first thing I did was hold my breath and dunk my face under the water. It was heaven! The water was cool and refreshing against my sweaty, dirt smeared face. I held myself there until I couldn't stand it and threw my head back with a huge sigh. I took a minute to catch my breath, then drank some of the water to get the horrible taste of puke out of my mouth.

Then I looked at my shirt. There didn't seem to be much there… a little scrubbing might get it out. I tried doing it with my shirt on, but I quickly found that it was more trouble than it was worth and pulled it off. So what if I was standing there with nothing but my bra coving me. At this point, I really didn't give a damn. Even when I heard the Prince's footsteps stop behind me. I knew he was staring at me. Annoyed, I turned on him, my hands on my hips.

"What?" I snapped. His face turned red.

"I-I… w-well, I-I just…"

"Spit it out!"

"N-nothing!" I sighed.

"Prince, don't tell me you've never seen a woman wearing nothing but a bra. I've seen servant girls running around half naked, wearing much less than I am! So get over it!"

"Sorry… I-I just… I…" I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to my shirt.

"Just drop it before you stick your foot in your mouth." Another moment of silence went by at he drug a large metal cage onto the floor switch in the alcove next to me. I was sure the Prince had decided it was best to listen to me and shut up… but wouldn't you know…

"It's just—you—you're—well, er, pretty… I mean, not in that way, but—you know—as an angel…" he babbled. I sighed again.

"See? Now you've gone and embarrassed yourself," I told him without looked at him, "Prince, as a male, I can understand you're tendency for bashfulness, and saying the wrong thing. But seriously, you might want to learn to stop and think about when to speak and when to shut up." I quickly wrung my shirt out and 'modified' it to better accommodate my wings (even if it was just a big hole in the back…) and I shoved it on. "We're done here. Can we go now?" Obviously still embarrassed, he only nodded and lead the way out.

In the next hall, we found another fountain. I didn't even know it was there! I must've just walked right past it in the game. Anyway, we went inside. Again, I challenged Princy to another race, only without the cheating part this time. It successfully lightened the atmosphere between us, because at the finish line, we were right back to playful arguing.

"You run too fast!" I whined, panting.

"I don't run _that_ fast! You just aren't as good as me!" he argued with that proud air about him that he was better than me.

"Meanie!" He simply grinned at me and took his drink from the fountain. I followed suit. When we reappeared outside, I felt much better than I did before. I was glad of it, too, since we had more huge blades popping out of the wall to dodge. My wings didn't hurt so much now, so I had minimal trouble getting past to the gate. The Prince got by, too, though I could tell he was hating every second of it.

The next room reeked of something awful. Considering the room was full of torture devices, I'd bet my teeth that it was blood. Both the Prince and I stood there in awe, staring at everything in the room, unable to believe that this room had once been filled with interrogators and unlucky prisoners. I could almost hear their screams for mercy and the interrogators demanding an answer to a question. I almost lost the rest of my stomach. Thankfully, I didn't.

"This place…" I whispered, "People have died here… the wrong way."

"I've never… I've never even set foot in a prison before…" the Prince admitted quietly, almost sounding ashamed. I shook my head.

"Neither have I. I hoped I never would. Gods, that _smell_!"

"Let's get out of here."

"Agreed!"

* * *

Kiri: AWWW!! I LOVE ALL YOU GUYS SOOOO MUUUUCH! All the nice reveiws... I think I'm gonna cry!

Mike: DON'T!

Kiri: oh, fine, ruin the moment. Well, i've got good news and bad news, then more good news. The good news is that I almost have this entire thing done, except for the final battle (sucks at battle scenes), so I'll be updateing every day. the bad news is that Monday, I start summer school and I'll once again be swamped.

Naomi: You will have no life this summer.

Kiri: No... I won't. But the other good news is that I get out at noon, so I'll still have plenty of time to write. I hope. But enough of my babbling. Sorry, guys, but there's not much I can do for an FAQ today... maybe next time? But until then, THE REVEIWS ARE AWESOME! KEEP THEM COMMING!


	14. Buttiches

Chapter 14

"So Prince… as long as we're alone…" I began, hovering nearby as the Prince worked his way around, jumping onto beams and poles and whatnot, "Why don't you tell me you're name?"

"_Naomi!!_" he cried, sounding exasperated.

"What? I wanna know! You keeping it a big secret had only sparked my curiosity, and I'll only keep pestering you about it until you tell me!"

"I'm not telling you my name! I don't care how many times you ask, I'm not telling!"

"Well, why not? What's the big secret?"

"I don't like it! I told you that!"

"Why don't you like it?" I pressed.

"It—it's just strange, alright? It doesn't sound normal, nor does it sound fitting for a man. I've begged my father to let me change it, but he won't!"

"Well, if your father likes it…"

"Of course _he_ does! He picked it!"

"Oh, come on! Tell me! I promise I won't laugh! And if I do, then you can kick my ass later!"

"No, Naomi, I'm not telling you."

"Why not?!"

"I'm not risking you laughing and humiliating me!" I snorted.

"Prince, unless you have a name like 'Buttiches' then the chances are I won't laugh at it!" He stopped and nearly fell over.

"A name like _what_?"

"Buttiches!" I replied cheerfully.

"Who in their right mind would name their poor child _that_?!" Again, I snorted.

"You'd be surprised what people do where I come from, Prince." I stretched my arms. "So, are you gonna tell me?"

"No."

"Aw, please? You know I'll only keep pestering you until you do tell me!"

"Naomi, please, just drop it!" by now, he was really pleading with me.

"Oh, alright. I'll cut you some slack this time around. But don't expect any mercy from me later." He didn't say anything and just kept climbing.

At the top, I heard the familiar whoosh of sand monsters appearing, and then I heard the twang of Farah's bow. Hearing that, the Prince and I both hurried our butts out, where yet another battle began. This time, though, I had open skies, and a nice big area to fly around it.

"Over here!" Farah yelled at us, already firing arrows. The Prince and I drew our weapons. He immediately charged into battle and began vaulting over the guys with hammers and rebounding off walls to knock over the big burling guys with swords, but this time around, I hung back. I wasn't sure why I hadn't thought of this before… but hell, now wasn't the time for regretting stupidity. I took to the air and flew over the beasts' heads, swiping at them with my swords, making the Prince's life a little easier. They couldn't catch me, since I was too fast. Hell, I was even lucky enough to knock a few down. But the battle went on like that, until the Prince finished off the last one.

At the end, he stepped into the vortex, leaving Farah and I with nothing to do but wait for his ass.

"Is it just me, or are those things getting bigger and uglier every time?" I questioned, sliding my swords into my pant legs. Farah smiled.

"They're definitely increasing in number," she agreed, "Probably because we're getting closer to the Tower of Dawn."

"I get it. We're closing in, so now ol' Zangarth or whatever his name is, is panicking and sending more and more monsters to stop us. That moron, doesn't he realize that if he starts small and sends them out increasingly that all we do is get stronger?" She giggled.

"I suppose not." I sighed.

"So… what are you gonna do after all this is over with?" I asked, changing the subject. She seemed a little off-put by the question at first.

"Well, I—I don't know… I…" she looked up at the Prince, whom was still in the vortex having visions. At this point, I smirked. I knew she was in love with him. I just had to tease her about it.

"Admit it, Farah! You like him!" I said accusingly, "It's written all over your face!"

"What? There's nothing… I mean I don't…" she stuttered. I grinned slyly.

"It's only obvious. Just the way you _look_ at him! Besides, after everything the three of us have been through by now, it would shock me if you weren't fond of him! I know I've warmed up to the big lug." She held her arm and looked down at the ground uncertainly.

"Well… I suppose I have formed feelings for him…" she admitted.

"Oh, bah! You love him. You've fallen head over heels for the guy. Completely, hopelessly in love. Go on and admit it. We're both girls here!"

"Well, I…" she was interrupted when the prince was thrown out of the vortex and hit the ground with a thump. Forgetting about the conversation she quickly went over to him. I just watched smugly as she drug him over to one of the benches and started stroking his hair again. I was tempted to say something along the lines of "I told you so" but I refrained. I just stayed where I was, watching them.

Only a moment later, the Prince's eyes fluttered open. I don't know what was going on in his mind, but he must've freaked out a little, because he practically jumped off the bench and pulled out the dagger. Farah got up after to try and comfort him. He looked uncertainly at the dagger, and then held in behind his back, backing up all the while.

"It's all right," Farah cooed, "it's me." She gently put her hand on his shoulder. "It's me." the Prince didn't say anything, but looked like he now realized what was going on.

"Yknow, I think you should take it easy on those vortex thingies, Prince…" I interrupted, "I think they're starting to mess with your head a bit!" He still didn't say anything.

"Look," Farah said gently, pointing towards the big tower with the creepy vortex whirling over it. "At last we're here. The Tower of Dawn."

"And it's about flamin' time, too!" I added irritably. As Farah went over to wait by the gate, I approached the Prince, whom wasn't looking too good. "Princy? You ok over there?" He dropped his head into his hand and didn't answer for a long moment.

"I'm all right, Naomi," he answered quietly. I gripped his shoulder.

"You sure about that? You look out of it…"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Well… if you say so…" I saw where he was going and stopped him. "Hold on. You go over there and wait with Farah. I'll get the gate open this time." He just looked at me for a moment, but nodded once and turned back. It was easy, since all I had to do was fly up and hit the orange pressure plate on the wall, then zoom out the gate before it closed, not that I needed to, since I could've just flown over the wall.

We ran across the bridge, killing the birds that awaited us. After a winding hallway, we found another fountain. The Prince easily smashed through the wall with his super uber sweet princy skillz.

"I love it when you do that," Farah said, her voice a little low and husky.

"Come with us," the Prince invited, "please." She shook her head.

"No, you go."

"Aw, are you suuuure? It's some gooooood water in there you be missin' out on." She only smiled. I shrugged.

"Ok, suit yourself. Let's go, Prince." We walked in.

"You know, you and Farah would make a real good match, I think…" I told the Prince when we were out of earshot.

"What do you mean by that?" he questioned.

"Oh, yknow…" He just looked at me.

"Naomi, of all the women I have ever known in my lifetime, you are definitely one of the strangest."

"Uh, 'one' of the strangest?" He shrugged.

"Alright, _the_ strangest."

"That's better." We were quiet for a moment. "So, eh, what are you gonna do when all this blows over?"

"Return to Babylon. Perhaps find a wife. What about you?" I hummed in thought and folded my arms behind my head.

"Well, it's starts with a waffle cone, ends in sprinkles and a cherry and everything in the middle is pure gold!" I grinned. The Prince, however, didn't seem to understand. "I'm talking about ice cream, you dolt! But then again… it depends on if I get… home…" I trailed off. I hadn't even thought about that! My mom… she was probably worried sick about me! I may have been gone for days, or weeks!

"Home?" the Prince repeated, "Say, you never did say where you were from, anyway. I know you aren't Persian or Indian. You don't have the complexion, and your manner of speech and accent are different." I didn't answer. I was too busy drowning myself in thoughts about home. My mom, my friends, school… what became of them all? Would I ever get back? Fat chance. I was probably stuck here for the rest of eternity.

"I guess… I guess I'm not going home…" I muttered. The Prince looked at my oddly.

"You aren't? Why not?"

"It's not important." I shook my head.

"Well—well then, if you aren't going back to your home—why—why don't you come back with me? To Babylon?" he asked, obviously a little shy. I met his gaze, my eyes wide with disbelief.

"You mean it?"

"Of course! My father would love you! I know he'd let you stay!" He stopped and faced me. "So, will you?" I smiled.

"Prince… I would love nothing more than to go to Babylon with you," I answered. A big smile spread across his face at my answer. I almost didn't have the heart to finish what I was saying. "But," he smile faded, "I have obligations I have to fulfill first. Sorry."

"What obligations?" he almost demanded, almost looking… hurt.

"Just… Angel business," I sighed, "But after I'm done with all that, I'll meet up with you then. I promise."

"Alright… but don't keep me waiting too long, or you'll be in big trouble, missy." He stuck his finger in my face to emphasize his point. I giggled.

"I make no promises on that."

* * *

Kiri: BUTTICHES! XD!!

Prince: ... (shaking head in embarressment)

Kiri: What? It was funny!

Prince: Who in their right mind would even _consider_giving their child a name like that?

Naomi: do you really want a answer to that question, Princy?

Prince: er... no, actually... I don't.

Kiri: Well, let's just get to the FAQ. Who be doing it today? hmm... Eenie...meanie...chili...beanie...PRINCE!

Prince: But I already did it!

Kiri: Too bad1 Do it again!

Q: Don't tell me his name is-

A: IT IS NOT! DON'T EVEN ASK!

Q: Sheesh, ok, I won't. So, what _is_ his name?

A: ...I am not telling.

Kiri: He knows that if he tells before the time comes, that there will be hell to pay. (pats bazooka) Isn't that right, Prince?

A: er... yeah...(sweating)

Q: So, is it going to be the Prince and Farah and not Prince and the OC?

A: we still don't know. Kiri is keeping it a total secret... but by the way she sits there and daydreams about it...

Kiri: (snickering) that doesn't tell anyone anything. but I know what's gonna happen romance-wise.

Q: Will Naomi get home after this?

A: In all honesty, it's very unlikly.

Q: why was the Prince out of it when he woke up from the vortex thingy?

A: Well, I just saw Farah stealing my dagger in those visions, not to mention I woke up and felt something in my hair. I was a little startled.

Kiri: Oh, you liked it and you know it.

Prince: ...

Kiri: See? Is that sunburn, or are you blushing?

Prince: SHUT UP!

Kiri: Well, that's all the time I have now. It's movie day today, and I have my first day of summer school tomorrow. And on a final note, YOU GUYS ARE MAKING ME THE HAPPIEST AUTHORESS ON THIS SIDE OF THE NUT HOUSE! I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH!!! HUGS ALL AROUND!! Stay tuned for the next chappy!


	15. Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 15

"Be careful!" the Prince warned as Farah ran ahead of us into the elevator that would take us to the top.

"Of what?" she called back, sounding confident, "Not everything is a trap, you know!" We cautiously followed her lead onto the platform. We were a little startled when it suddenly sealed itself shut and started moving. "That was easy."

"Too easy…" the Prince said, his teeth grinding together in worry and suspicion.

"While I agree with Farah that you do have a tendency to be a worry wart," I began, "I am getting some bad juju vibes here…" I drew my swords carefully and waited. I just knew something was waiting to happen… I was right.

Sand creatures appeared. Dozens of them. Enough to freak me out. Farah gasped loudly when they appeared.

"You know, not everything is a trap!" the Prince shouted mockingly as he tore his blade out.

"HOLY FREAKING CRAP!" I cried, "DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING!!" I had a hard time staying in flight during this battle, since the elevator was all the time moving up, so I had to keep moving up as well. It was very difficult to stay over their heads and swipe at them all mercilessly at the same time. The entire time, I was yelling things like "HOLY SHIT ON A BISKET!" or something along those lines.

Several minutes passed. They just kept coming. The elevator kept moving up. The Prince was looking a bit haggard by now, but was still up and kickin'. My wings got tired, so I had to ground myself for a while and watch my ass twice as carefully.

Another few minutes passed. They just kept on coming! I was able to fly again.

"Where are they coming from?!" Farah yelled, desperately firing arrow after arrow at the beasts.

"Prince, for the love of crap, DO SOMETHING!" I shrieked. He did something all right. He used his haste power. I didn't even see it. All I saw was a blur of white and pink as he zipped all over the place, taking down as many as he could. That little maneuver helped us a great deal.

A couple more minutes past. The battle seemed to be over. We were all really tired by now. We all breathed a HUGE sigh of relief as the Prince finished off the last one. I almost fell on the floor. I definitely got way more than my fair share of cuts and bruises in that battle. Silver blood dripped from my cuts and stained my clothes, but hell, right now, I hardly even knew they existed.

"I'M DEAD!" I shouted over-dramatically, as my muscles made me a thousand promises of pain to come. "I can't believe we're all still _breathing _after that!" the Prince healed at the fountain and the elevator finally stopped. He did a quick vertical run and leaped onto a lever that dropped the gates surrounding the elevator.

"Come on, Nay, let's go," the Prince said, smiling as he helped pull me off the floor.

"'Nay?'" I questioned, giving him a funny look.

"Just a knick name," he answered. I stared at him.

"...That's a stupid knick name. Can't you do any better?"

"Possibly, but I don't want to." I flashed him a glare and we hurried to join Farah on the smaller lift.

"The hourglass is nearby… I can feel it!" the Prince exclaimed as the lift took us up.

"Feel it? How?" Farah inquired, titling her head in puzzlment. He looked at her.

"I... can't explain it." At this point, I leaned over to farah and whispered, "I told you those vortexes were messing with his head…" She giggled at this. The Prince, however, rounded on her and folded his arms.

"I heard that!" I smiled back smugly.

"Yes, and what are you going to do about it, O Great One?" He didn't take his eyes off of me for a second, but I knew by the look in them what he was planning. He lunged forward in an attempt to grab me, but I jumped to the side before he could touch me. "HA! You missed me! Take that, you giver of crappy knick names!" He lunged again, but this time, caught me by the arm and, as I expected, tickled me. "GAH! UNFAIR! FOUL! CHEATER! GAH!" I squirmed and did everything in my power to get away from him, but he held tight. Poor Farah almost got knocked off because of our shenanigans, but lucky for us we reach the top level before anyone could fall off.

The Prince and I continued to wrestle one another, and Farah stood aside and watched for a moment before sighing and breaking us apart.

"Look, you two, I know you're having fun, but we really don't have time for this!" Princy and I slowly got to our feet, him still grinning and me still giggling. "The hourglass it just up there…" I think the Prince and I got the same idea in our heads, because we looked at one another and exchanged sly smiles before moving in towards the Indian Princess. "Wha... what are you doing?" she looked at us nervously and backed away. But we quickly conspired against her, tackled her and both of us started tickling her.

At first, she tried not to laugh and act serious, like she wasn't in the mood to put up with our childish notions, but after some eh, 'bribing' she came around and was laughing her head off by the time we were done with her.

"Was that too cruel, do you think?" I asked the Prince as we let her up. He shrugged. She slowly got to her feet, picking up the arrows that had fallen out of her quiver and glared at us.

"For goodness sake, you two!" she cried.

"What?" I asked innocently, my hands behind my back. She let out a frustrated groan and started up towards the hourglass. The Prince and I followed.

"There's no one here," the Prince announced as we came up the ramp.

"Huh… strange… I don't like it…" I answered.

"Now get on top of the hourglass!" Farah instructed, "Hurry!" I could've done so easily, had the Prince been trusting enough to give the dagger to me for about three seconds. But no, he went about climbing up there all on his own. As he was doing that, I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of impending doom in the air… like whomever was guarding this thing was waiting for us…

Finally, the Prince was on to top of the hourglass with the dagger in hand. I would say I felt relieved, but I didn't. I remembered this scene. The prince would have second thoughts, and hesitate long enough for the Vizier to crash the party.

"Good, now, take the dagger. Strike it into the center of the dome," Farah instructed him. I watched. He looked skeptically at the dome and started sliding the tip into the center, when suddenly he pulled it back.

"My father's army sacked your palace and captured you as a slave," he said, looking untrustingly at Farah.

"Prince!" I exclaimed.

"And you…" he glanced at me the same way, "you were also taken as a slave, yet you had nothing to do with any of this…" I fisted my hands and ground my teeth together in panic. "Both of you have every reason to hate me."

"What are you doing?!" Farah cried, looking as desperate as I was, "There's no time!"

"Prince! NO TALKY! STABITY! NOW!" I ordered, making a downward stabbing motion with my hands to emphasize my point.

"Now… you want me to trust you?" he continued. This was not good at all. He needed to stab that thing before the Vizier came.

"PRINCE, I AM AN ANGEL, DAMMIT! TRUST WHAT THE ANGEL SAYS! STABITY! DOME! HOURGLASS! REWIND! NOW! HURRY YOUR BUTT UP!" Too late.

The Vizier announced his unearthly presence with a blast of whirlwinds that knocked us all off our feet. Even I had to grab on to something to keep from flying backwards. The old geezer moved in of us.

"Give me the dagger," he growled, moving towards the fallen blade.

"The dagger!" Farah shouted desperately, clinging to the Prince's arm, "He must not get the dagger!" The Prince looked around for a moment before letting go of the column he was clinging to, still clutching Farah. The strong winds were enough to push him back, and with some luck, his hand found the daggers hilt and snatched it away from the vizier could get him grimy paws on it. Me, I tried to keep my grip on the pillar I had clung to, but the winds were just too powerful. I slipped, and just like the other two, I plummeted into the darkness.

Princy-boy landed smoothly on his feet and caught Farah in his arms before she hit the ground. I was able to give my wings several good flaps to cushion my fall and land safely on the ground. My companions looked at each other more a moment before Farah shoved her way out of his arms.

"A tomb," the Prince announced. Farah folded her arms. I knew she was about to chew him out, but I got there first. Was I mad? No, I wasn't mad. I was freaking _furious._

"…Prince…" I began, trying to control my heavy breathing, trying my hardest to not completely lose my temper on him, "_YOU GIVE ME ONE DAMN GOOD REASON WHY THE HELL I SHOULDN'T KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!!"_

"You were there," Farah began, probably just as pissed as I was, "The dagger was in your hand! Why did you hesitate?!"

"You were right there!" I screamed, "RIGHT THERE! You could've fixed this whole mess! What the hell were you thinking?! You... _IDIOT_!!" Farah's eyes narrowed dangerously and she turned her back on him and folded her arms.

"You think you're cleverer that everybody," she continued, "But you're just like the rest of them. Those solders… all they can do it fight! Destroy!" The Prince slumped against the tomb, his face in his hands. He was definitely feeling guilty, and our anger wasn't helping him. I knew that this was how it was supposed to happen... I guess I'd been hoping too much that I could've changed things and ended this whole thing sooner.

"It was over... It was freaking over... I could've gone home and had lunch and..." At this point, I collapse over one of the tombs and groaned pathetically.

"Why did I trust you?" Farah added. But she was obviously a much more forgiving person than I was, since she softened her voice and knelt down to him. She gently lifted his chin to look him in the eye. "Why didn't you trust me?"

A sudden blackout took us all by surprise and I pulled myself off of the tomb I was half laying on. I felt better now… in fact, I felt bad. Bad about screaming at the Prince like I did… he was my friend, after all… and we had been through a great deal together…

I located where the two of them were sitting. Apparently, as an Angel, I could see much better in the dark. I quietly came over and sat with them and snuggled up to the Prince's side.

"I'm sorry…" I murmured, resting my cheek against his chest. "I didn't mean to yell at you…"

"And I didn't mean what I said," Farah added.

"No…" he muttered, "You're right. Both of you. All that's happened is my doing. I wanted honor and glory…" He inhaled shakily. "I brought this on us."

"You are brave and good," Farah insisted, "and if this tomb is to be ours, at least the dagger will be buried with us. And…" she hesitated, "we are all together."

"This has been one hell of an adventure, huh?" I mused. I suddenly noticed the Prince's accelerated breathing. So did Farah.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," he quickly lied.

"You're trembling!"

"I just don't like close spaces." Sure he didn't. He carefully pushed me off of him and stood up. "There must be some way out of here." I heard him start groping around. Farah and I automatically moved closer to each other to close the gap.

"When I was small," Farah began, "my mother taught me a secret word. She said that when I was afraid, all I had to do was speak that word and a magic door would open."

"Huh. Reminds me of my mom."

"I never told that to anyone," she finished.

"I can see why," the Prince retorted, "It's the most childish thing I've ever heard." He paused for a moment. "What was the word?"

"Kakolukiam."

"Kakolukiam…" I echoed, "Sounds like a beach resort."

"Kakolukiam," the Prince also repeated, trying out the new word for himself. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a grinding noise behind me. Slender fingers firmly gripped my wrist and pulled me down into the now opened tomb. Farah…

* * *

Kiri: Another chappy in the bag! well, I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to update until midday now, with summer school and all... bah. But, let's cut the depressing crap and get to the FAQ!

Prince: I did it last time! I'm sick of doing it!

Mike: Meh. I'll do it.

Kiri: Ok, Mike does it.

Q: Why is Farah pulling Naomi into the magic place thingy?

A: Girls are like that. they prefer having another girl to talk to. Or at least, most girls do. so of course there would be a bit of a different bond between Farah and Naomi.

Q: Why didn't the Prince just stab the dome to begin with?!

A: Because he's an idiot who let his suspicions overpower his brain.

Prince: ...

Q: Sheesh! Naomi is scary when she's pissed!

Prince: You're telling me?!?!

Naomi: oh, I am not, you're just a big baby.

Q: so, er... Prince and Naomi seem to like to play around a lot...

A: yes, and it's becomming rather annoying. The longer they play around, the longer it takes them to do what they need to do.

Q: ...and why do you want them to finish so bad?

A: Heh. To convert Miss Goody-White-Wings over here. What else?

Naomi: HEY! YOU KEEP TEN FEET AWAY FROM ME AT ALL TIMES! YOU HEAR THAT YOU PERVERT?!

Mike: (sigh) Honestly... I have no desire at all to get involved romantically with you. I want to make you a renegade, but your being so stubborn...

Naomi: WITH GOOD REASON!

Kiri: ok, I'd better stop it here before this gets violent. Well, we're almost done, so keep the reviews comming and I'll keep on writting!


	16. The Beginning of the End

Chapter 16

I wasn't sure what to say when Farah pulled me along into that magic place she'd talked about only moments ago. We moved at a very quick pace, neither of us saying anything until we were inside the one room I remember the most from the game. The place where the Prince and Farah had shared their first kiss. I hadn't really thought much about what I would do at this point in the game. I guess I had just planned to wait up in the tomb for them… but I guess now that won't be the case.

The bath of steaming water was more than inviting. Without even saying anything, I knew what she was thinking.

"Should we?" I inquired. She looked at me.

"Yes." With that, we quickly discarded our clothes. Farah slipped into the water first, then me. I had never realized until now just how sore and achy my muscles really were after all that. But the hot bath was _heaven_. I immersed myself in it, then surfaced with a huge sigh. My wings were soaked, but like I cared at the moment. If I were not a virgin, I probably would've said something along the lines of "Lord, this is better than sex!" But I was a virgin, so I didn't say anything.

"You think he'll find us down here?" I asked after a moment.

"He might. But even if he does, it will take him a while to get the doors right," she answered. I laughed.

"Farah?"

"What?"

"Why'd you bring me down here, anyway?" She stopped to think about this.

"…I don't know. I suppose I just like the idea of having another girl to talk to."

"So what is it that you want to talk about?" She didn't say anything for a long while this time around.

"…When all of this is over, I think I'd want to take a good, hot bath, just like this one," she said, smiling at me. "What about you? Are you going home?"

"Uh… no, I don't think I'll be going home," I replied.

"Why not? Is it far?"

"It… you could say that." The two of us suddenly perked up at the sound of a certain familiar voice.

"Farah? Naomi? Where are you?" The Prince. He'd finally gotten down those looooong stairs.

"He's here… should we call him?" I asked, keeping my voice low. She looked down at the water and simply nodded. At that, I walked to the edge and hauled myself out of the water and quickly went to get my clothes back on. If he was going to find us, like hell I was about to let him see me naked. Farah already had the hots for him, and I wanted him to get together with her. The way I saw it, he didn't need any temptation from my end getting in the way.

"What are you doing?" Farah asked when she saw me pulling my jeans on.

"Getting dressed. What's it look like?"

"Why?" I rounded on her.

"Look, I have no problem whatsoever with being naked in front of you. You're a girl. But Princy-boy is a guy. And guys have a tendency to think a little more with their reproductive organs than with their brains." She giggled at that. "The last thing I want, or need at this point is him lusting after me." I finished buttoning my jeans up, put my bra on and grabbed my shirt. "Besides," I yanked it on over my head, "as far as romance goes, you two are the best pair out of this trio." She looked at me, not saying anything, her dark eyes clouded with several emotions. But she smiled.

While the Prince ran around outside and Farah continued her bath, I sat at the edge, my feet dangling in the water. Every so often one of us would yell to the Prince, or he would yell to us. It seemed to take forever… if I'd known he'd be taking this long, I would've stayed in the water a bit longer! So when he _finally_ walked in, I grimaced.

"About time, slowpoke!" I teased. "If I were a bird, I probably would've molted three times waiting for you!"

"I'm not sure what that means… but where's Farah?" he asked, looking at the bath. I only pointed at the figure submerged in the water, whom surfaced a moment later.

"It's beautiful," she said when she came up. I pulled my feet out of the water as she swam up to us and looked at the Prince. "Come on," she beckoned him. He didn't need a second invitation. He smiled, then got up, set his weapons off to the side and jumped in with her. At this point, I got to my feet and backed up, watching them carefully. As far as I was concerned, they were already an item, and I, the third party, didn't need to be there.

When I was certain that they weren't looking at me, I grabbed my shoes and snuck away, turning back just once and smiling as Farah pulled herself out of the water and sat on the edge. Time to go.

I knew I was going to be kept waiting for a while, but in all honesty, I didn't mind very much. Those two belonged with each other, and though I did feel a ping of jealousy towards Farah for having bagged a real hottie, I wasn't about to get in their way. I flew out back into the crypt, parked my rear end on one of the tombs and kicked back on it.

I guess because we always had to stay on our toes and keep careful watch of our surroundings, I never really noticed how tired my body was. I couldn't blame it, really. I hadn't slept in days. With this whole Sands of Time thing going on and my spat with the angels, I'd never really had the time to eat or sleep, and it was starting to take its toll on me. I yawned and wondered if falling asleep would be too dangerous to risk. Who knows what could be lurking in this dark mausoleum. But then again, I had a while to wait for my comrades… I guess I'll just rest my eyes…for a few… moments…

I woke up to the sound of scuffling and soft footsteps. Crap, I'd fallen asleep! Damn it all! I groggily opened my eyes, finding myself still lying on the tomb. The crypt was lighter now, and the door to that magic cavern was closed. The Prince, of course, was snoozing away soundly, a small smile playing on his lips. But Farah… she was awake and quietly picking up the Dagger of Time.

"That's called stealing, you know," I spoke out calmly, causing her to gasp and whip around, seeing me still lying there, watching her every move.

"Don't scare me like that," she breathed in relief. "And I know what I'm doing, thank you very much. I need this to undo this mess." I jumped to my feet, wincing as my sore achy muscles shrieked in pain.

"Why don't we all go up together like last time?" I questioned, gesturing at the sleeping Prince. She looked at him sadly.

"I wish we could… but I just don't know if I can trust him again." We both gazed at him. She definitely had a point. What if he hesitated again? What if we weren't lucky enough to get out with our lives next time?

"I understand. But it's way too rough for you to go alone, so I'll tell you what. I'll fly up and scout the area, take out some dudes, and we'll meet at the top. Sound good?" I suggested. She looked from me, to the dagger in her hand and back to me a little skeptically.

"Well… I suppose." I knew she was feeling horrible for leaving the Prince alone in this place, but this was something that had to be done.

"I know… I'm sure he'll be fine," I offered. She sighed. "Let's go before he wakes up." With that said and done, Farah took his sword and the dagger, left her medallion behind and together we headed out.

Just like I promised, I flew ahead and cleared her a somewhat safe path. She made her way up after me using cracks in the walls. I knew the Prince would wake up soon, though, so we was trying to cover as much ground as possible before he would wake up and realize we were gone and come chasing us.

I looked down at the princess from my high perch on a rock as she emerged from another crack, then I looked up to see how much more progress we had to make. Lots. I groaned. I knew this would be a long climb up, and at this rate, Princy-boy would catch up.

"Farah, hurry up!" I called down.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" she called back. She ran across the small area to the next crack in the wall…

"FARAH!!" That took me completely by surprise. He'd gotten here faster than I'd expected, or wanted. We needed to really pick up the pace now. I stared down at him as he stood by the door leading out of area where the last sword rested. Said sword was in his hand. I was pretty far away, but I could make out the pain on his face, and hear it in his voice. It was time for Farah and I to just haul butt out of here.

We only got up a little ways, however, before he did catch up. Sorta. Farah was already slipping through the next crack with he climbed up to our level.

"FARAH, COME BACK!" he cried desperately. It almost tore me apart to keep running away from him. I can only imagine what it was doing to Farah. Either way, we had to keep going. "Farah, be careful!" I heard the prince shout again, "Don't use up all the sand!" Don't worry, Princy. Even if she does use all the sand, she wasn't about to go and kick the bucket. Not while I had a say in it.

Somewhere along the line, I got a bit too anxious and I started flying towards the top of the tower. I was just going to see how much longer it would take us to get up there and come right back to help Farah. But I suddenly stopped when I heard a loud grunting noise. I only had a split second to think and react before a net was thrown over me by a group of Sand Monsters. I was stunned at first and fought hard against the thick ropes that made up the net and tried to find a way out of it. It was no use.

I heard them make some noise that might've been laughing as I struggled against my bindings. They reeled in the net, and one roughly slung me over his shoulder. Wherever they were taking me, I had a strong feeling that it would bode very bad for not just me, but for Farah and the Prince as well.

* * *

Kiri: Sorry this wasn't up sooner, guys! Had some difficulty in the homework department today!

Naomi: suuuure you did. Lazy person. You were too busy chatting with your alter ego.

Kiri: he's not my alter ego. He's my twin. Isn't that weird?! Idiscovered that someone almost exactly like me yesterday. We're the same age and everything! Freaky! But aside from that, we're almost done! that makes me a saaaad panda. But anyways, how about that FAQ? anyone?

Everyone:...(crickets chirping)

Kiri:... anyone at all?

Everyone: ...(crickets)

Kiri: ...Fine ya lazies! but I'm not in the mood now... not to mention, there aren't really that many questions. At least, questions that I don't plan on answering later on, or questions that haven't already been answered. So, I'll just go rush to finish my homework now.

Mike: AND MAKE SURE YOU PEOPLE REVEIW!

Kiri: That too. So see y'all next chapter!


	17. Death and Revival

Chapter 17

I sighed and looked out at the setting sun, hoping to whatever deities were up there that I would find a way out of this mess. I was now suspended in the air in the room above the hourglass room that I remembered only too well. To tell you the truth, I was afraid. I knew what was about to happen. If I didn't find a way out of this thing soon, then all the events in the game would come to pass right in front of me and I would be helpless to do anything about it.

"So you're the little bird that keeps trying to get in the way!" an all too familiar voice spoke out. I turned to see that dress wearing old fart standing there, grinning smugly. I lost it.

"WHAT IS YOUR MALFUNCTION, YOU GREASY, SNAKE-IN-THE-GRASS OLD GEEZER?" I screamed, "YOU GOT ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE AS IT IS, SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE OFF AND LEAVE THE REST OF THE WORLD ALONE ALREADY?"

"My, such a tongue!" He chuckled like he does, which only succeeded in pissing me off even more. "Well, since you're here, I have a small proposition for you." I snorted. Like I didn't already know what he wanted. "If you will go and retrieve the dagger for me, then I will give you power." Oh, he is just _so_ predictable. "Think about it. Eternal life can be yours!" I only looked at him, my eyes narrowed in disgust.

"Yeah, um, in case you ain't noticed, Gooberts, _I'm a freaking angel!_ I've already got all the power I'll ever need or want! Besides, even if I wasn't, you're asking me to _betray_ my companions! The only two whom I would trust with my life!" I got onto my knees the best I could. "I may not be the strongest person in the world, or the smartest, or the bravest, but at least I know where my loyalties lay! They lay with the Prince of Persia and the Princess of India, and I wouldn't betray them for anything!

"Unlike you. You're just a stupid, backstabbing old fart whose about to die off anyway, and is making one last ditch attempt to cling to what feeble life you have left, and you're so desperate to get it that you don't care who you hurt in the process! All this pain and suffering just because you want to live forever! Do you even know how much pain you've inflicted on innocent people? Do you even _care_? No, I didn't think so. That's cruel you know that? It's cruel and inhuman!"

"You don't understand!" he snapped, "Power is everything! And with the eternal life I will receive from that dagger, I will be able to reshape the world!"

"Reshape it into what, exactly? If there is nothing left of it and no one alive to enjoy it, what do you expect to do with it? Turn it into a hat?"

"You stupid girl!" he exclaimed, raising his staff threateningly. Yeah, oh, I'm _so_ scared! Yeah right!

"The entire world has gone to ruin because of you! Everyone has all become a mindless, bloodthirsty zombie! And you don't even care! All you care about is your precious immortality! Well, let me ask you something! If you're going to live forever, just what the hell to you expect to do when the earth itself _dies_? Everything with a beginning has an end! Why can't you seem to understand that? You're not just corrupt, Zervan! You're stupid!" That did it. He growled furiously through his teeth, clutching his staff with one hand. For a moment I thought he would cast a spell that would kill me. But no, instead, he just looked away, then back and the smug grin was back.

"Very well. If that is how you see it… you can just stay here for the rest of your miserable life!" he declared, sounding oh-so-proud of himself. I folded my arms stubbornly.

"Fine with me! I'd rather hang here and starve to death that agree to anything from your mouth!" He didn't reply this time, but just left, flashing me one last smirk before leaving me alone.

I wasn't kept waiting much longer before Farah appeared on the scene. But of course, with her arrival came Sand Monsters. Not small ones, either. All big ones with big ass swords.

"Farah, look out!" I warned, staring helplessly out over the battle as she struggled to defend herself. She was doing a really bad job of it, though. I was helpless. I couldn't even get my swords out because the net was too tight. All I could do was watch and shout warnings, with one small sliver of hope that I would be able to keep her from what awaited her…

She quickly locked swords with one of the monsters and used all the strength she had to push against him, but to no avail. The thing shoved her back, where she landed hard on the ground. I was almost certain she was done for, when…

"Farah!" the Prince shouted, alarmed, and leapt into the room. He immediately took down two of them with a quick slash and a stab, but he was only seconds too later. She'd just gotten to her feet, when another one took a swipe at her. He missed, but it was enough to startle her and knock her back again. Only this time she lost balance and fell… right through a 'conveniently' placed hole in the floor. She yelled out, just barely catching the edge with the tip of the dagger and held onto it for dear life.

"Farah!" both me and the Prince yelled at once. He hurried to her, and just made it as the dagger slipped and she started to fall. He hand gripped the blade of the dagger tightly, and he held on to it, even though it was cutting into his hand. All I could do was watch, waiting… hoping…

The Prince was shaking by now, trying so hard to keep a hold of the dagger, even though he was in pain. I wanted to yell "PULL HER UP! PULL HER UP!" but my voice had decided to go on a coffee break. Time seemed to slow down. My body went numb. It was here. That one moment I had been dreading. That one thing I'd hoped to prevent. Farah looked up at he prince sadly and spoke her final word: "Kakolukiam."

"Farah! No!" the prince cried, making a grab for her, but he was too late. She fell. She hit the ground below. She died. It was _awful_.

I didn't even notice the tears that rolled down my cheeks. I just stared in horror, not believing, not _wanting _to believe what I had just seen. How could this happen? I was so careful!

More Sand Creatures appeared. The Prince only sat there a moment longer before he looked at the dagger in his hand. He quickly hit the button, probably hoping to rewind time and save her, except it was empty. His eyes widened when he realized this, then his grip tightened, and he looked up at the approaching beasts. He was pissed. There was a fire in his eyes that I had never seen before. Every inch of him was trembling in rage, every ounce of his being screaming for revenge.

I think I saw a side of him that I'd never seen before during that battle. He was so enraged, so hurt… He showed them no mercy. No compassion. He just kept cutting them down, one by one, his emotion overriding his brain, until they were gone. Every last one brutally brought down and destroyed.

For what could've easily been an eternity, he stood there, gripping his sword tightly in one hand, the other balled into a tight fist by his chest. For a moment, I was almost afraid to say anything…

"Prince, get me down from here!" He didn't move, but I know he heard me. Slowly, he turned around and went for the rope that kept me suspended in the air. The net fell and I hit the ground with an "Oof!" While I recovered from that small drop, the Prince cut the ropes open and untangled me from it. Once I was free, I immediately lunged forward and embraced him around the neck. Who knows why I did that… I suppose I wanted to comfort him in some way, or maybe because I wanted comfort. After all, our Terrific Trio was now cut back down to Dynamic Duo. We clung to each other tightly.

"Prince," I whispered, trying to choke back the tears that were burning painfully in my eyes, "if you tell me that didn't just happen, I'll believe you." For a long while, he didn't answer, but from his heavy breathing, I could tell he was also on the verge of tears.

"Sorry, Nay…" he whispered back, his voice shaking. The minute he said that, I snapped.

"FARAH!" I shrieked as I shot out of his grasp and down through the hole she'd fallen through. Her body was there, still warm, a slight smile on her lips, her face frozen in a look of peaceful serenity. I snatched her hand and checked for a pulse. Nothing. "No..." I wanted to scream until my lungs exploded. I wanted to kill something. I wanted to cry until my eyes popped out of my head and floated away. But I couldn't make a sound. Moments later, the Prince came down. He limped over to Farah's body and collapsed, looking ready to implode. He kept mumbling "No…" the whole time and pressed his forehead against hers. But wouldn't you know, this heart-felt scene was interrupted by the creep himself.

I didn't quite hear what he said, but the Prince and I were so raging pissed off at this point, we didn't care. We got to our feet, every millimeter of our bodies trembling in blind rage and together, we leapt and tacked the old man, ready to strangle him until his eyes popped out. But somehow, his stupid staff got in the way.

"Give me the dagger," he growled, somehow fighting against our combined strengths. Really, this guy was starting to sound like a broken record. "And I will give you power. Eternal life will be yours!" the Prince and I let off, and stumbled back.

"Don't you ever _shut up_?" I exclaimed.

"Live forever? And those I loved are _dead_ and _I to blame_?" the Prince demanded angrily, holding the dagger in a stabbing motion, pure hate consuming his eyes. He leaned forward a little. "I choose death." With that, he did some quick acrobatics and flipped up to a ledge on the wall. It took a moment but when the Vizier and I registered what he was about to do, I just smirked evilly. He leapt onto the hourglass and raised the dagger. The vizier started shrieking.

"DO IT!" I bellowed, just as the Prince yelled out in anguish and slammed the dagger into the dome. "WE…DID…IT!"

I'm not quite sure what happened at that point as time rewound itself to the very beginning before this whole mess even started. I just kept my eyes shut the whole time, not wanting to look at what was going on around me. There's no telling how long I stayed like that. But when I finally opened them again, I was standing out in the jungle, alone.

It was night. The very night before the Maharaja's palace was attacked. A thousand thoughts went through my mind. The Prince, Farah, the Vizier…I had to find them. Now. Not wasting time, I took to the skies and flew up as high as I dared. I didn't want any one to see me and gawk. I had to fly around in circles for a while, while meaning about two hours, since I had no idea where the Prince's campsite was. It took me forever, but I found it.

I quietly landed on the outskirts and carefully checked the vicinity. Everyone seemed to be asleep at this point, so it was safe enough to sneak around. I tiptoes around, stepping over burned out campfires, taking care not to wake anymore. I didn't dare move my wings, since the flapping might wake someone and I couldn't take that chance. I think it's safe to assume that the biggest tent belonged to the head honcho, the King. The only problem was finding the Prince's. I checked the ones nearest to the Kings, but most of them were occupied by generals and solders. Except one. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that it belonged to the Prince. But it was empty. I wasn't surprised. But now I'd have to move double time to find him.

Then Mike showed up.

"Hey now," he positioned himself right in front of me so I had to screech to a halt to avoid crashing into him, "Where's a pretty thing like you going in such a hurry?" I growled.

"Can't you come back later? I'm busy now!"

"Busy trying to save the world. Yes, aren't we all. Look, Angel, I ain't playing this time. Either you come along quietly, or I'll use force. It's your decision, and I'm not letting you get off so easy this time."

"Damn you!" I yelled, "I don't have the time to stay and mess with you, so just bug off!" He winced dramatically.

"So, kitty finally has her claws… but does she know how to use them?" he taunted. I was getting real sick of him, really quick like.

"GABBY!" He seemed to back up a little at the sound of her name. We both waited a moment, but when nothing happened, he got his vigor right back.

"Heh. Were you really expecting her to be here?" he asked boredly, "nice try." He dashed forward, grabbing me around the waste and slammed me into a tree. "You got away last time. But this time you won't be so lucky. But don't worry, you'll like being a renegade." He reached back to put his hand on my back between my wings like last time, overconfidence all over his face. But that wouldn't last long.

The very second his hand touched my skin, a familiar face rammed into him and tackled him to the ground. Gabby had heard me and come to the rescue.

"Not this time, either, Mike!" she declared, standing over him victoriously. Then she looked up at me.

"Thanks, Gabby!" I called.

"No problem! Jusy hurry and get to the palace! The Prince will be needing your help!" With a simple nod, I darted away, hurrying to the palace.

I made good enough time to the palace, which was a mixed blessing, because one I was there, I couldn't freaking find the right room, so I circled around the palace, dodging the night shift guard for about an hour like a idiot before finally finding it. The only bad part about that was that it was starting to get light. I was running out of time.

I landed smoothly on Farah's balcony and folded my wings back. They were tired by now, and they deserved a good rest. I carefully peeked inside. I was just in time. The Prince and Farah were sitting on the ground, and the Prince was just finishing up his story and telling her to arrest the Vizier before he has the chance to screw everything up.

"He signals a flaming arrow shot into the air," he explained, "prevent him, and my father's army will know that the traitor has been unmasked. They will turn back." But the Vizier, that spying jerk, decided to pick that moment to interrupt.

"A wild tale indeed," he spoke up darkly, announcing his presence. The Prince and Farah both jumped up, the Prince holding his arm out in front of Farah protectively. "But I have a better one. A Persian solder, lusting for glory, enters the chambers of the Maharaja's daughter and is slain. By me." He gripped his staff, then gestured towards Farah. "Princess, for your own safety, I suggest you flee." Farah didn't have to be told twice. She ran and ducked behind a large potted plant. "I will handle this intruder." Oh yeah? We'll see about that, you prick!

I yanked out my sword (I only had one now, since my other was back in the Prince's possession) and in one smooth motion, I kicked the balcony gate open and walked inside, smiling.

"LUCY, I'M HOME!" I announced loudly in a Ricky Ricardo accent. The Prince seemed to stop and gape at me for a moment, before a big smile spread over his face.

"Naomi!" he exclaimed happily.

"Sorry I'm late. You know how it is."

"Well, isn't this quite the coincidence," the Vizier interrupted, "now I can get rid of both of you!"

"Oh, we'll see about that, won't we?" I spat back at him. "Ready, Prince?"

"You're awful brave all of the sudden," he observed. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well, it's just that nobody hurts my best friend and lives to brag about it! _Let's get him!_"

* * *

Kiri: wow, sorry, guys. I WAS gonna update yesterday, but I got sidetracked by other crap.

Naomi: (snort)

Kiri: ...what?

Naomi: you and your buddy got into a pointless convorsation about video games. that's why you didn't update! Lazy!

Kiri: ...shut up. Well, sorry guys, but no FAQ today... got homework to catch up on. Summer schol is a bitch. But on a more positive note, I just got Flash yesterday, and I'm gonna start teaching myself how to animate! Yay!

Prince: ...and your buddy is going to draw a chibi version of me...

Kiri: yeah, and that's a bad thing?

Prince: ...I like the way I look now, thank you very much.

Kiri: oh, live with it. So anyways, REVEIW AND YOU SHALL GET THE NEXT CHAPTER FASTER!


	18. Final Chapter

Kiri: and now... the moment you've all been waiting for...THE LAST CHAPTER! and btw, please don't kill me for crappy battles scenes...

* * *

Final Chapter

Just as I remembered, the Vizier dodged back into the curtains on the balcony door and created a force field around himself. That chicken shit coward. Well, fine. If that's how he wanted to play it…

He summoned a double of himself and the Prince and I went into a defensive stance. The double came rushing towards us as soon as it was able to and started its attack. He was a formidable duelist, I must admit, but still, he was an old geezer.

"Is that all you've got?" I exclaimed as I dodged a stab from him and flipped over him landing smoothly next to the prince, who used the opportunity to take a swipe as him. That was another thing. He was a good defense and left very small windows for attack. But with the two of use, maybe it would make things easier?

"What sorcery is this? Stop this at once!" Farah demanded loudly over the fighting, "Vizier, I command you to stop! Do you disobey?"

"I have taken orders long enough from a senile fool and a sniveling brat!" he spat disgustedly.

"DON'T YOU EVER CALL FARAH A BRAT, YOU BASTARD!" I bellowed and leapt at the double, ready to deal out a nasty blow. He blocked it, of course, but that gave the Prince the window to strike. That one landed.

"Let him be brought before my father!" Farah suggested, still trying to stop the fight, "He will judge!"

"He's a Persian solder! He came here to abduct you," the vizier insisted.

"Liar!" the Prince exclaimed, dealing out a nice combo, doing a nice amount of damage. "Everything I said was true! It happened! Er, I mean—it _will_ happen!"

"For us it happened! For you, it didn't!" I clarified, "Get it right, princy!"

"Well, excuse me for this whole thing being so complicated!"

"You're excused! Gah! Holy crap!" I ducked at the viziers staff nearly took my head off. I lunged in and landed a stab. "Hey, Prince, how much Sand you got?"

"All the tanks are full! Why?" he answered, rolling out of the way of another swing.

"Use haste! It'll make our lives much easier!" Deciding to take my advice, he activated his haste ability and that make quick work of the first shade. Only trouble was that now he had no sand at all.

With an angry huff, he summoned the second. This time it was a bit easier, since we already knew what to expect. Like I said, he wasn't half bad, and he was no fool, either. Well, I mean, he was stupid, but he was cunning. and I also thought it was very funny, since the prince and I were just yelling our battle strategies out for the world to hear... and we were still winning.

"So, Prince!" I called, takingh another swing at the shade, "after we kill this old geezer, you wanna go get something to eat? I'm up for a bigass six dollar burger from Carl's Jr right about now!"

"A what?" he yelled back.

"Oh! I forgot! You wouldn't know much about American food! Well, rest assured, six dollar burgers are _very _good eatin!"

"If you say so, Naomi! Watch it!"

"Whoa!" I quickly jumped back, just barely avoiding getting knicked by Old and Ugly. "So, what the heck kinda food _do_ you have around here, anyways?"

"Well, if you'll come back to Babylon with me," he backflipped away from another attack, "you'd find out!"

"I already told you I can't! Honestly, I want to, but damn it all, life isn't fair some times! So you'll just have to tell me!" While the shade turned his attention mainly on the Princ,e I leapt in from behind anf took a goos smack at him. He leaned to the side, as if in pain, which left him wide open for the Prince to finish him off. "Hey, do you have fried rice of Babylon?" I asked, almost excitedly. He opened his mouth to answer, but the Vizier interupted, hacking and coughing horridly.

"Did you _really_ think... you could deafeat ME?" he coughed painfully again.

"Well, considering that we just hacked through two of your little shades, and we're yelling out our stategies for all the world to hear, and we're having a conversation about food," I began, "then yes, I'm starting to think that victory is close at hand for us."

"Careful," the prince added sarcastically, "Don't tire yourself." That seemed to boil his blood, and he summoned the last shade.

"So, you didn't answer my question!" I insisted as the last shade manifested itself and came after us. "Is there fried rice in Babylon? Oh, no wait! Better! Are there taquitos there?"

"Uh, sorry, I'm not sure what that is!"

"Ah, crap! well, I guess it's safe to assume that there's no barbeque over there, either! Damn, I like barbeque, too!"

"You must have some interesting food where you're from!" the Prince concluded, blocking the shades stab attack.

"Oh yeah! Junk food galore!" I answered, rushing in to hit it.

"What's junk food?"

"Food that's bad for you and that you shouldn't eat!"

"If it's not good, then why do you eat it?"

"Because it's GOOOOOD! Fast food is a prime example of this! The stuff is so bad, and so loaded with fat and salt and all kinds of crap that will get you fat, but it's _so damn tastey!_ That's why there are so many fat people where I'm from!" He didn't answer this time, since he was busy hacking away at the shade. Wasting no time, I rushed in to join the fun. With both of us ganging up on him, he didn't stand a chance and fell quickly. with the last shade gone, the Vizier's sheild fell and he was ripe for attack. I grinned at the prince and nodded once and we moved in for the final blow. I didn't attack, but the Prince executed a nice uppercut.

The creep flew backwards by the force of the Prince's blow, fell through the gates and hit the ground hard. The Prince and I moved in, raising our swords, ready to make the kill… I saw it coming. I don't know why he didn't. The vizier grabbed his staff and swung hard, smacking the Prince in the shins. It was hard enough to knock him off his feet on flat on his back, but he quickly raised his sword up in defense. Me? I just jumped over it.

"So it ends," the vizier went on, even though he was dead and we all knew it, "How will the Maharaja feel when he finds his only daughter slain by the son of his enemy?" I growled in the back of my throat. "Are there any last words you wish me to communicate to the Princess" he paused and got that crazy look on his face, "before I kill her? Words of love, perhaps?" The Prince finally lost it and charged forward, swinging his sword. It was over.

"I could've been… immortal…" and the Vizier fell dead.

"Yeah, that's right! You better die off, you old geezer!" I exclaimed, pointing the tip of my blade at his body. "You'd be asking for an extra crispy ass-whoopin' and a large order of fries if you didn't! I'd be like 'oh yeah!' and you'd be like, 'ohnoies, I'm dying and stuff!' and I'd be like—" the prince grabbed my shoulder and stopped me.

"Ok, Naomi, I think that's enough," he said simply. I wilted a little.

"You're no fun."

"So it's true," Farah interrupted, stepping out onto the balcony, "he was a traitor."

"Yes, I believe Princy over here stressed that point." Ignoring me, the Indian Princess looked away.

"I owe you both thanks." She looked at the Prince. "But why did you invent such a fantastic story? Do you think me a child, that I would believe such nonsense?" I couldn't hold back my grin when I saw the romantic gleam in the Prince's eyes, and I damn near fell over laughing when he placed his hand on her hip, stepped forward and kissed her. It lasted only a second before Farah pushed him off. "I said I owe you thanks! You assume too much!"

"Prince, you're an idiot!" I teased. He glanced quickly at me, then smirked slightly at Farah and rewound time.

"—such a fantastic story? Do you think me a child, that I would believe such nonsense?" Pausing slightly, the Prince stepped forward.

"You're right," he agreed, placing the dagger in her hands, "it was just a story. Take this. Return it to your father's treasure vault. Guard it well." He looked at me. "Naomi, let's go."

"Yessir!" He quickly leapt over the balcony and grabbed onto a tree, when Farah stopped him.

"Wait!" she called, hurrying after him, "I don't even know your name!" Pssh, You and me both, sister. I smiled at him.

"Just call me…" he paused for a moment, probably for effect, "Kakolukiam." He stopped for a second as he slid down the tree, leaving Farah there to gape. I quickly ran after him.

"That's not your name!" I said stupidly as I jumped off after him.

"I know that," he growled irritably when I caught up to him. We ran through the forest, side by side, back to the campsite. For a while, neither of us said anything, but after a long time, the prince broke the silence.

"So, now that this whole thing is over, what are you going to do?" he asked me.

"Well… I have one last obligation to fulfill," I answered honestly. I saw the smile on his face fade.

"Obligation? What obligation?" he asked, looking a little distressed. I turned.

"I'm not really sure. Probably some important Angel stuff I wouldn't know the first thing about." I smiled at him and searched the sky. a moment before spotting a friendly pair of silver wings through the trees. Gabriella was waiting for me.

"So, where are you going, exactly?" The Prince inquired. I shrugged.

"Well, apparently, I'm going up to the 'Heavens' to go to an Academy to learn how to be a good Angel. Sounds cheesy… " I put my hand on his shoulder. "But don't worry, we definitely haven't seen the last of each other. When I get out, I'll track you down." He didn't look very reassured, but bought it. I looked at Gabby. "How long will I be there, anyway?" I asked. She considered it for a moment.

"Well, the required amount of time to be there is around five years. But some Angels stay longer. The average amount of time is about seven years." I looked back at the Prince.

"Well… we'll have lots of time to miss each other, I can tell you that," I joked. He smiled. We were quiet a moment, then we embraced tightly. I took a deep breath and blinked back tears I could feel forming. "Guess this is goodbye for a while."

"I suppose," he answered. "You'll remember me, won't you?"

"Well, I'd have to be completely stupid to forget your face," I teased. "Seriously, after all we've been through, I think we're buddies for life."

Then I did what could easily be the craziest, bravest, idiotic thing in my life. I pulled back, put my hands on his cheeks, stood on my tip toes and gently kissed him right on the lips. No, it didn't mean I was in love with him. I just meant it as a gesture of friendship to tell him that I would miss him. He seemed a little surprised by it at first, but quickly relaxed.

"And Prince," I started, breaking apart for him, "from now on… don't go about opening strange hourglasses, no matter how much it grates on your pride. Ok?" I poked him in the ribs. He chuckled light heartedly.

"I won't. I promise."

"Good." I stepped back, and we looked into each other's eyes for what would be the last time for seven long years. I wanted to say something to him. Something that had a meaning behind it. "Prince, I…" But my mind only drew blanks. "…See you later."

**The End…?**

* * *

Kiri: NOT HARDLY! There's a sequal, alright. I wanted to go through all three games, remember? well, I'm staying true to that plan! I haven't exactly decided what to call it yet, though... ideas? anyone?

Naomi: a sequal... I can hardly wait.

Kiri: yes, the sequal will be seven years later, so you will be 23 then! And it also means that the Prince will be cuter, too!

Prince: ...what's wrong with the way I look now?

Kiri: nothing. you just looked much cuter in the second game. or at least, I thought so. But ANYWAYS i'm not in the mood for an FAQ today. But make sure that all you guys reveiw and keep an eye out for Warrior's Angel 2!


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